Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
by Emperor Ferus
Summary: My rewrite of The Last Jed; how it would be if I wrote the script. Please read and review, I hope you enjoy
1. chapter 1

**A/N:** This story is in no way connected to my Episode IX: The Heir Ascending. This is how I'd have written The Last Jedi. I don't hate it, but it's definitely closer to the bottom than the top of my list. Also, I realize that a lot of the technical information and details may be inaccurate, but I will do my best. Please read and review **A/N**

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

 _Star Wars_

 _Episode VIII: The Last Jedi_

The galactic civil war between the Resistance and First Order continues. Rebel pilots led by the young Commander Poe Dameron have destroyed the deadly superweapon Starkiller Base, and the Resistance braced itself for the revenge of Kylo Ren and his minions.

The scavenger girl Rey, having been liberated from the desert world Jakku and swept into the Resistance cause, has traveled to the remote world of Ahch To to locate the legendary Jedi Luke Skywalker and bring him back to aid the desparate rebels in the fight against the dark side.

Meanwhile, the vengeful General Hux has assembled the First Order fleet to launch a deadly attack on the Resistance base, intending to finish them off once and for all. Leia Organa leads the Resistance to arms against the attacking forces to maintain hope in the galaxy...

One after another, the training droids came out of the small sliding doorways. Carrying vibroblades, electrostaffs, they charged at Kylo Ren as he wielded his cross shaped lightsaber, glaring at them through his helmet.

He struck them down one by one as they approached him, slicing off their heads, their limbs, their torsos. He was a weapon of the dark side. The throne room of the _Supremacy_ was dimly lit and secluded, where nobody could interrupt Ren's training. Only one red light shined down on the throne overlooking the scene.

Kylo yelled out in frustration as he struck droid after droid as they kept coming. Next came a wave of seeker droids, from holes in the ceiling. They fired at the figure below them, set to kill.

Unleashing the power of the dark side, Kylo waved his lightsaber to deflect the bolts, sending each shot at the seeker droids and creating a hailstorm of falling scrap metal that lit the dark room's metal floor on fire.

Amid the flames that illuminated the chamber, Kylo Ren at last deactivated his lightsaber and clipped it to his belt. He reached out in the Force for a brief moment, and sensed that no more droids were coming.

He stepped towards the throne, which was flanked by a total of eight red-robed, masked Praetorian Guards, who each brandished a deadly staff.

Ignoring them, Kylo knelt before the throne, on which sat his master, Supreme Leader Snoke, the head of the First Order and strong with the dark side of the Force.

Through his twisted, deformed features, Snoke peered down at his kneeling apprentice. His gray eyebrows furrowed.

"When I first found you, I sensed raw, untamed power. And beyond that, something truly special. The potential for a new Vader."

Surrounded by the ring of fire, Kylo listened intently, awaiting further praise. He must have proven to be a worthy commander of the First Order's military by now, and a worthy successor to his grandfather, the Empire's own Darth Vader.

He was taken completely by surprise when a torrent of lightning struck him. He howled in pain from behind his mask as he flew backwards, his head landing an inch from the fire created by the scorched metal.

Snoke continued his monologue, allowing Kylo to stand. "Now I fear I was mistaken. You lost to a scavenger girl who had NEVER HELD A LIGHTSABER!" The Supreme Leader's face reflected nothing but utter rage now.

Kylo could not help himself now. He stepped forward boldly, saying, "I killed Han Solo. I didn't hesitate. I cut him down like you ordered."

Subconsciously, his hand drifted to the lightsaber on his belt. His rage was barely controlled. What more was expected of him?

"Take that ridiculous thing off," commanded the Supreme Leader. His enraged expression shined orange-yellow reflected against the flames

Kylo stopped on his tracks. Resentful and obedient, Kylo took each side of the helmet covering his face with both hands, and lifted it off to reveal a long, curved scar running down his right eye. The scar served as a reminder of the failure of Starkiller Base.

He bent down and set the helmet on the floor.

"The time will come where you will face your final test, one greater and more trying than the scavenger girl," Snoke told him, "The girl will be a key player in our quest to locate Skywalker. I have a plan that will allow us to locate and destroy the last of the Jedi."

Kylo was about to respond, but a beeping sound came from the arm of Snoke's throne.

Growling in annoyance, Snoke pressed the button next to him, and a twenty foot tall hologram of General Armitage Hux appeared in front of Kylo, facing away from him towards Snoke.

"What is it, Hux?"

"Supreme Leader," Hux spoke with caution, afraid of crossing the ruler of the First Order, "My fleet has surrounded the Resistance base on D'Qar. The Resistance is preparing to counterattack."

"No prisoners, no mercy, you know what to do." Snoke waved his hand dismissively, more important matters at hand.

"Yes, Supreme Leader, I won't fail you."

Kylo noticed Hux's tone and glared up at the large, imposing blue hologram as it fizzled out.

"For now, you will join General Hux and the fleet as they attack the Resistance," Snoke told him, "then I shall give you further orders."

Kylo was far more interested in finding both the girl Rey and Luke Skywalker, his uncle and former Jedi mentor, but he knew better than to disobey his master. "As you wish."

He bent down again to pick up his helmet, which now felt much lighter than before. Kylo turned and began to stride towards the elevator, walking through the towering flames and past the remains of the droids.

Once he entered the elevator and was descending towards the small,private hangar where his TIE Silencer was docked, Kylo fondled with the helmet in his hands, contemplating.

Once, the helmet had provided a mystery to his identity, and symbolized his position among the Knights of Ren. Now, looking at it, he felt cowardly hiding his face, as weak as he had proven himself on Starkiller Base. Yes, he had killed his father, but it had not strengthened his resolve as he'd hoped. Rather, it had made him even more drawn to the light.

The girl Rey had been no help either. As soon as he'd captured her, he'd sensed that he knew her, she was a key link to his past. A key to Ben Solo. He knew he needed to eliminate his worst foe that was Ben Solo, but at the same time, he didn't entirely want to. A part of him wanted to salvage his old self, and he had a deep, gut feeling that this girl would play a role in that.

By the time the elevator door opened, Kylo's helmet was severely dented and fractured, and Kylo left it to smolder as he headed towards his vehicle.

The First Order fleet surrounded the green, foggy world of D'Qar. The _Finalizer_ headed the Dreadnoughts and Star Destroyers that slowly advanded, while the larger vessels were guarded by a swarm of thousands of TIE Fighters.

Shockingly, only one Resistance transport had risen from the planet surface to meet the armada that threatened the organizations' immediate existence, a single X Wing Fighter.

The round-headed white and Organa BB unit whistled anxiously as the fighter approached, but the uniformed pilot, Commander Poe Dameron, said, "Don't worry BB8, we got this. The General trusts us to get this done, and we're going to prove worthy of her trust."

Typing on the computer grid on his screen, Poe activated the fighter's external communication signal to dispatch to the _Finalizer._

On the command bridge, General Hux paced the deck above the stationed officers. He listened as the communication came through the radio.

"General Hux? This is Commander Poe Dameron with a message for General Hux."

Hux smiled as he responded to the fruitless plea for mercy. "This is General Hux. Tell your General that there will be no terms, no surrender. You will all be decimated into nothing. It does not matter whether you fight back or do nothing."

Hux listened to the silence on the other end.

Poe steered his fighter to the left as he secretly prepared to launch his torpedoes, targeting the _Finalizer'_ s main engine from below as he kept them occupied.

From down below, the entire Resistance fleet was fully manned and ready to take off from the main hangar which lied within a mountaintop cave aiming straight upward.

The _Raddus_ was commanded by General Leia Organa and her most trusted officers. Beside her stood her trusted protocol droid C3PO, his plates shining as golden as ever. Admiral Ackbar manned the internal cannon while Commander D'Acy and Vice Admiral Holdo stood at attention across from her in front of the holotable mapping out the battle scene.

Opposite Ackbar was Lieutenant Connix, who operated the computer readings detailing the escape route of the Resistance.

Surveying the rest of the personnel, Leia briefly reflected on the recent turn of events that had led them to this point in time.

Her son, Ben Solo, turned Kylo Ren, had nearly brought upon their destruction with the deadly weapon called Starkiller Base, which had been disabled by Poe and a team of elite pilots. A stormtrooper named Finn, who now rested in a coma in the medical bay of the _Raddus,_ and a Force sensitive girl named Rey had joined them and fought on Starkiller Base.

And her estranged husband, Han, had come back to her after so many years, and attempted a last ditch effort to save the good in their son, ultimately failing and sacrificing his life.

Leia felt the tears coming, but brushed them aside as she proceeded with her duties.

"Any second now," she said as she watched the minihologram of Poe's fighter.

"I'm waiting," Poe said into the intercom, "General Hux. We don't have all day."

Hux grunted in annoyance. "This is Hux. Can you hear me, I can hear you."

Poe chuckled to himself as he aimed the torpedoes. "General Hux? Hello? Sorry, you must be breaking up?"

His face turning as red as his hair, Hux had had enough. "This is General Hux! I can hear you! Am I getting through?"

"Genera Hux? General Organa has a message to pass along to General Hux..."

As Hux gazed out the command bridge at the planet below them, the older, distinguished Captain Peavey stepped up behind Hux and whispered in his ear. "I believe he's tooling with you, sir." It had to be admitted that for all his military genius, Hux at times lacked basic common sense and social skills.

"About his mother," Poe concluded, pulling the trigger.

"FIRE!" Hux screamed as the torpedoes rocked the _Finalizer,_ creating a heavy explosion beneath them.

The deck shifted as Hux felt his feet sliding below him.

"Now!" Leia yelled.

And at once, the Resistance fleet launched and a minute later, appeared in orbit to counter their opponents.

As the cruisers held back, the X Wing, Y Wing and B Wing fighters came forth to aid Commander Dameron.

As the fighters and heavy vessels began engaging in a concise, heavy exchange of fire, Hux patched in to Captain Canady of the Dreadnought _Fulminatrix._

"Captain, open fire and destroy their capital ship," he ordered fiercely.

"They're too far out of range!" Canady said back from the _Filminatrix,_ "at this rate, we'll be locked in a stalemate with their fleet."

"We need to gain an edge," Hux muttered to himself as he surveyed the scene. He hadn't expected the Resistance to be that well equipped, with a build up of weaponry over the decades to rival that of the First Order. "Captain Canady, I need you to take out the smaller fighters in between us and the command ship."

"But then it'll take hours to recharge our cannon!" Canady argued back as his Dreadnoughts took light hits from the fighters.

The Resistance was built up of daring pilots who came at their adversaries with everything they had. Brentin Wexley, Paige Tico, Nein Nunb, so many others, firing and firing against the swarms of TIE Fighters.

Grumbling, Canady relayed Hux's orders to the gunners of the _Filminatrix._

This doesn't look good, General," Poe said into the intercom, "That Dreadnoughts's armed and ready to fire."

Leia scanned the battle from the viewport. She knew that the resources of the Resistance would be limited and eventually tire out. She sensed a disturbance in the Force, one that was far away but getting closer.

 _No Ben, don't come. Don't get involved._

 _You're doing your duty to your cause, Mother, I'm doing mine._

Commander Dameron, prepare a retreat," Leia ordered, "All transports know where to go and we have nothing to gain from staying out here."

In his heart, Poe knew she was wrong. They had a chance to deal a grave blow to the First Order, one that could very we affect the outcome of the next battle.

Extending the range of his communication, Poe spoke again into his headset, "All bombers, rise above the Dreadnought and prepare all ammunition."

"Commander Dameron," Leia said as BB8 let out another nervous squeak, "We can't afford such a risk. Retreat now! That's an order!" Her patience was running out as the disturbance became heavier.

"We won't get another shot at this!" Poe replied as he steered his craft upward, narrowly dodging a green streak of laserfire. "Paige, you know what to do."

Paige Tico nodded and stood from the cockpit of her bomber, the _Colbat Hammer._ Stroking the talisman around her neck, she hurried over to the control panel above the bombardier station. Paige took a deep breath, telling herself that she'd spent her whole life training from this. The Resistance had given her a cause, something bigger than herself to join, and now she was going to give back.

Once she activated the large,round hatch, it slid beneath her to allow access into the bombardier station.

Without further hesitation, Paige began to climb down the ladder into the chamber that contained shelf after shelf of thermal detonators ready to be aimed down at the Dreadnought that threatened them.

The lever to open the bottom hatch lied at the very end of the latter. Paige jumped down the last ten feet, praying to the stars as she pulled the lever.

In the command station of the _Fulminatrix,_ Canady shouted into the comm channel, "We're swarmed by Resistance bombers. We have to get out of range to escape them."

"I don't care!" seethed Hux as his own crewmen struggled with the engines that Poe had disabled, "You will open fire at the price of your own lives."

"Prepare to move the Dreadnought away from the bombers," Canady said, ignoring Hux.

"Too late!"

The detonators came raining down on the Fulminatrix, engulfing it in a colorful explosion. Debris flew across the battlefront, forcing ships of all sizes to flee or be crushed.

Poe swore as he maneuvered the X Wing away from a flying pipe from the disintegrated _Fulminatrix._

Back to the ship, BB8," he said exhaustedly.

Just then, a flying chunk of debris came just over the right wing where BB8 was positioned in his socket.

BB8 yelped and popped down as Poe steered the vessel downwards. "That was close."

"We've lost them!" a deck captain said, "and we're in no position to fire."

Hands behind his back as he contemplated the situation, Hux bared his teeth. "We're going to dismantle them ship by ship."

Just then, a swarm of seven fighters appeared in space behind the damaged First Order craft, a TIE Silencer and three Fighters on each side.

As she grimly watched ship after ship fall to the First Order, Leia sensed her son approaching, ready to give everything he had.

 _Ben, it's not too late._

In his cockpit, Ben responded. _I killed Father. You should hate me._

 _I don't hate you, Ben. You didn't kill him, the monster that consumed you did. I know you're not dead._

 _You are._

Kylo Ren's finger slipped across the trigger, aimed directly at the _Raddus'_ command station, but it did not push. He curses the light in him as his Silencer glided across the battle, stealthily avoiding the retreating Resistance craft as he approached.

He'd killed his father, why couldn't he kill his mother? Yet the Kylo inside him was screaming to finish the job.

A shadow bomber behind him advanced ahead of his vessel suspended in the vacuum of space, explosions and laser fire all around. The blast came from his underling's fighter and streaked straight at the command station.

"Incoming!" Ackbar shouted, flinching and, like the other officers present, knowing it was the end.

But Leia didn't have to think about what she did next, it was instinct. She raised her arm, closed her eyes in concentrations and caught the torpedo before it hit them, leaving it suspended in midair.

Gasps filled the command center as she held it in place, feeling the energy she was expending ebb, but her willpower allowed her to continue.

Poe looked on in amazement as his fighter returned to the hangar of the _Raddus._ The stars and black background flowed blue as in that brief moment in time, Leia used the Force, despite the little training she received, to save the Resistance government from instant doom.

"Now's our chance!" Ackbar declared, taking initiative right away, "All surviving craft, go into light speed."

As the Resistance fighters blasted away into hyperspace, Leia let go of the bolt and let it fly into oblivion. Losing consciousness quickly, she began to collapse, but D'Acy caught her in her arms.

"Get her to a medical bay immediately! She needs air!"

It appeared that for now, the Resistance was safe.


	2. Chapter Two

The damage of the battle had been so great that the _Raddus_ was the only surviving craft of the Resistance. However, as it travelled across hyperspace towards its destination, it appeared to be safe from First Order pursuit.

In the main hangar, amid the docked vessels including fighters and freighters, damaged and untouched, Admiral Ackbar addressed the assembled leadership.

First the high ranking colonels, admirals and vice admirals stood around the Mon Calamari leader, and behind them were the lower officers and crew members.

The pilots stood in the back, some with their astromech and BB droids. Threepio stood beside Ackbar, remaining silent according to proper protocol.

"We did the best we could against the magnitude of the First Order's assault, but sadly, we were unprepared. We must keep fighting in the names of freedom and those who have died for our cause. I will be leading us to the old Rebellion world of Crait, where we have several old crafts to put to use. We can only build up our support from here."

The officers and pilots alike listened with purpose and passion, but ironically, only Poe Dameron was not among them.

He roamed the corridors of the _Raddus,_ BB8 rolling at his heels, towards the medical bay. Only one thing now was on Poe's mind now that the battle was over and the losses had been counted.

He entered the private room in the medical facility. "Lets see if he's doing better, BB8," Poe remarked.

One of the chamber's two occupants was a standard unit medical droid. "Good day, Commander Dameron," the droid said.

Poe ignored him and went straight to the bed where Finn lied still, eyes closed. His life signs were normal, according to the reading, and he simply rested in his bed as he awaited recovery.

Gently, Poe knelt beside his friend as he spoke.

"Hey buddy, thought it would be good to check and see how you are. I know you'll have a million questions.

"First," Poe sighed in sorrow before continuing, " We almost got pulverized by the First Order. We took out a Dreadnought, but too many people died. The general's in a coma too, I don't know exactly what happened, but we're moving to our new base. And Rey, she's gone off. I don't know where, but the General seems to think she's pretty important."

Sighing again, Poe rested his head on the side of the bunk as BB8 remained comfortingly by him. Neither of them noticed Finn's finger twitch at the mention of Rey's name.

Poe hesitated, then put a hand to Poe's forehead.

"We're all waiting for you, buddy. Everyone knows what a hero you are. See you."

With BB8 in tow, Poe turned and slowly left the facility. Just as he was gone, Finn's eyes crept open as he let out a deep breath.

"Rey."

She walked up the stone steps, lightsaber in hand. She'd left Chewie with the _Falcon,_ and she sensed his presence close by.

Rey carried the lightsaber up the hill, overlooking a small deserted village. She'd come all this way, not just from D'Qar but from Jakku, where she'd been left as a small girl.

She'd always sensed in her heart that she was not destined to remain on the barren, sandy world. She'd expected her parents to come back eventuallly for her, not knowing why they'd had to leave her. She had no answers as of yet, but she sensed that Luke Skywalker was the key to unlocking the secrets of the past.

As Rey came to the hill's summit, a hooded figure could be seen gazing down at the ocean. As the figure turned to greet her, Rey could visualize his face before she saw it. She held up the lightsaber as Luke Skywalker took down his hood and revealed his graying, aging face.

No words were exchanged for a brief moment as Rey held the lightsaber up for him to take, unable to suppress awe of being in the presence of the old legend.

Luke regarded her silently as he studied the lightsaber in her hand. It was a weapon he knew well. His metallic hand began to reach for it, then he hesitated.

"Is it you?" he asked her.

Rey stopped, confused. Then she came out all at once, anxious to get what she'd come for. "I'm... I'm Rey, the Resistance sent me. Your sister Leia, she needs you, we all do. We need Luke Skywalker to beat Kylo Ren and the First Order."

"It is you," Luke replied simply, "I was wondering if you'd ever find your way to me."

"I'm sorry?" Rey asked awkwardly, realizing the old Jedi master must have known something she didn't, "Have you met me before?"

"Your questions will be answered in good time," Luke said, "Keep the lightsaber."

"Keep it?"

Luke pushed open his cloak to reveal a lightsaber clipped to his belt. "This is my true weapon, built by myself rather than my father. For now, keep that one. How did you find it?"

Rey paused, unsure of the story herself. She remembered what she'd seen on Takodana, the Knights of Ren, the voices calling to her, the burning Jedi Temple...

"It called to me. Maz Kanata had it."

"Old Maz," Luke remarked casually, "Why are you here?"

As he spoke, he started down the hill towards the stone huts in the distance. Rey began to follow, picking up the pace to keep up.

"I told you, the Resistance sent me. We need you to face the First Order."

Luke stopped and turned around. "Why are _you_ here?"

Rey understood now what he meant. She hesitated and racked her brains for what she truly wanted. "I... I want answers, to everything. I need someone to show me my place in all this."

Luke nodded and continued walking down to the stone, domed huts.

"You'll get all your answers in time," Luke said.

Looking around at the greenery and the beachside cliffs, Rey wondered what significance this place had to the Jedi Order. As she reached out and got s feel of the ecosystem, she realized it had a very familiar vibe. Yes, she'd seen this place, or at least felt it, in dreams, on Jakku and afterwards.

Luke stopped at the largest hut and opened the wooden door. He ducked under the arch and entered, sitting cross legged on a small rug.

Rey hesitated, waiting for Skywalker's approval, then entered as well, still carrying the lightsaber.

"I knew that if you were able to find me, you were ready for the training," Luke said, "I left the map with Lor San Tekka on Jakku for you to find when the time was right."

Rey stared at him, wrinkling her nose. "Who?"

"Lor San Tekka? Old ally of the Jedi Order. I gave him the map and left it and..." Luke paused as though he'd been about to let something slip. "So yeah, you're here, Rey."

Rey was stricken by how familiar the old hero's presence felt to here, the longer she was in his company.

Then, she remembered why Leia had sent her, her true mission separate from her own desires.

"We need you to come help us. The Resistance is in trouble and Kylo Ren will grow stronger."

"Kylo Ren," Luke sighed in regret, his eyes far away.

Suddenly, the door pounded as something big knocked against it.

Luke began to stand up, then the door came flying across the hut.

Chewbacca came barging in, growling at Luke.

"Chewie?" Luke recognized the Wookiee right away. "What are you doing here?"

Chewie roared again, angry at Luke for leaving.

Then Luke paused and frowned. Something was seriously wrong.

"Where's Han?"

Rey looked to Chewie who let out a quiet, mournful grunt. She looked back to Luke who was slowly realizing the truth.

"He... I'm lt was..."

"It was Kylo Ren," Luke concluded, "I..."

The wise Jedi master was unable to speak. Slowly, the walls were crumbling around them as Luke closed his eyes. The hut was shaking.

"Master Skywalker, are you all right?"

"Leave me alone!" shouted Luke with surprising anger.

Rey backed away towards Chewie and out of the hut, leaving Luke to his grief.

As Poe got to work on refueling the power booster that had been damaged in the space battle, BB8 came wheeling into the hangar, whistling and beeping in excitement.

Poe pulled the screwdriver out of the socket and turned to his little droid as BB8 came whistling.

"Hey, what is it, BB8?"

BB8 aimed his head towards the exit, where pilots were coming in and out.

"What? Finn?"

Poe raced past the passing Resistance personalities without regard to anything but his friend. There was so much to say, to update him on.

Sure enough, Finn was wandering the halls of the _Raddus,_ clearly only one thing on his mind.

"Finn!" Poe rushed over to his friend and took his upper arms. "You're awake! Listen, you must have a lot of questions. We lost most of our fleet, but we're on our way to our new base on Crait."

Finn looked intently back at Poe, his mind far from what he had said.

"Where's Rey?"

On the bridge of the _Finalizer,_ General Hux stood on the command bridge as Captain Peavey approached him.

"General Hux, we have received word from our spy that the Resistance is headed to Crait."

Hux smiled despite his rage at failing to finish off the Resistance. "We have them tied to the end of a string. They don't know about the spy?"

"Not at all," replied Peavey, "our course is set to their new base."

Rey sat in meditation in the hut across from the one Luke had broken. It would be a slow start, she realized, to achieve the knowledge she needed. But Luke had once been close to Han, and he obviously needed time to grieve. The answers would come, even if delayed.

All of the sudden, Rey sensed a dark, familiar presence.

 _No, he can't be here. How did he find me._

Rey stood and grasped the blue lightsaber, pointing it at the doorway. If he came in, she'd kill him.

Nobody came. Rey grew impatient as she continued to sense Kylo's presence. Finally, she raised her hand and focused on the doorway, sending it flying into the stone pathway.

She saw Kylo and activated her lightsaber, but then realized that he wasn't really... there. Kylo was sitting in his mediation chamber aboard the _Finalizer,_ staring back at her. The sight of him, with his long scar and black hair, reignited the rage she'd felt when they'd fought on Starkiller Base.

"Murderous snake!" she snarled, igniting the blue blade.

Kylo remained calm as Rey tried and failed to attack him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, "how did you get here?"

Rey panted in hatred as she kept her saber aimed at his heart. How dare he present himself to her now?

Still casual, Kylo asked her, "Can you see my surroundings? I can't see yours."

"You killed Han Solo!" Rey flashed back to the base, watching from the gantry as his red blade shined through Han, watching him fall into the inferno...

"Yes I did," Kylo looked neither remorseful nor malicious. "You called me a monster."

"You are a monster." Rey adjusted the grip of her lightsaber so that she held it in both hands, the blade vertical.

"I am a monster," repeated Kylo defeatedly.

"Why did you hate him? Your father?" As Rey spoke, her anger and desire to lash out grew, and she wondered if Luke was testing her. "You had two parents who gave a damn about you and you turned your back on them!"

"I didn't hate him," replied Kylo calmly, "I did what I had to do."

Luke walked down the hill in the rain, knowing that the transport that had brought Rey was there. He had a feeling, if Chewie had come with Rey, they must have come in...

Yes, there it was, at the bottom of the mountain, the _Millennium Falcon_ itself. Luke remembered the last time he'd seen the ship, the horrible fate lying ahead.

He climbed into the open hatch, where Chewie was asleep at the holochess table.

It was all so real, but a dream. The past was all coming back at once, more than he wanted of it.

A small beep came from the corner, and Luke turned to find his old droid Artoo Deetoo.

"Hey, Artoo," he said as he stroked his old droid's domed head, "it's been too long."

Artoo let out an incessant beeping as his old master knelt beside him.

"Hey, don't do that," Luke said desolately, "I had no other choice."

Artoo berated him again. Luke groaned and stood up. "I missed you, old friend."

The small, fragmented Resistance fleet quickly came up on Crait, with only a few fighter pilots manned around the _Raddus._

Attention, Resistance, we have arrived on Crait," Ackbar announced into the loudspeaker, "Hopefully we can remain hidden until we prepare a counterattack."

Vice Admiral Holdo looked away and stepped out of the briefing room.

She pressed a button on a hidden gauntlet under her sleeve.

Aboard the _Finalizer,_ Captain Peavey smiled as he received the beacon.

"We're on to them, General."

Ackbar stood beside the comatose Princess Leia as she rested. "We're home, General," he whispered in his gravelly voice.

As Luke exited the _Millennium Falcon_ back out into the pouring rain, he reached out into the Force, into presences far away. He hadn't attempted to communicate with Leia in years, but now that Rey had come at her behest, he needed to know if Leia held any resentment towards him for Ben's fate.

Aboard the _Raddus,_ as the large cruiser descended onto Crait's icy surface, Leia's eyes fluttered as she stirred, unseen by anyone in the briefing room.

"Luke," she said quietly.

"Leia."

All of the sudden, Luke sensed a disturbance. He raced up the hill towards the village where Rey was connected via Force-bond to Kylo Ren.

"Rey! Stop!" he shouted as he sprinted into the little cluster of huts.

Rey emerged from the hut, the Force connection broken.

"Master Skywalker?" Her face was struck by the rain as she came out carrying the lightsaber.

Luke stopped sheepishly. "Nothing. I suppose it's time to get started with your training."

The rain had stopped and Day had fallen over the Ahch To island by the time the training session had begun. As Rey wore a visor over her eyes, Luke watched as she batted away blaster bolts from the standard Jedi training remotes he'd saved from the old temple.

"What do you know about the Force?" the veteran Jedi asked her.

Rey was silent for a moment as she deflected a shot from behind her. "It's an energy field, a power used by the Jedi. I think I'm using it now."

"The Force is not entirely ours to control," Luke said, "There's a crucial balance in play constantly. The Force also controls our actions."

"You mean like destiny?" Rey asked as she sliced in half a training remote.

"No. The two sides of the Force are in a constant war with one another, and each of us is a piece in the struggle between light and darkness. Each side of the Force is channeled in the ones who use them."

As Rey listened, she reached out to truly get a sense of her environment. From behind the visor, could see the flowers growing in the meadows, the waves crashing against the rocks. She could see new life being born, fossils miles beneath the surface of the island.

She could see the sun shining down and providing light, she could see a shadowy abyss far below.

 _Rey..._

"I feel something..." Rey stopped and switched off the lightsaber, "Something here, calling to me."

Luke closed his eyes and scanned the island with his mind. Behind the superficial, he sensed deep, dark realms within the ancient, Jedi dwelling stronghold, calling to Rey.

"Ignore it," he urged her, "The dark side has beckoned to every prospective Jedi. It is their ultimate test to overcome the temptation."

Rey nodded and went back to the training, but sensed something much deeper than light and darkness, below the island. Something familiar. _Maybe a key to my past._

Her mind was far beyond the horizon as she deflected the shots from the training droids, the blasts reflecting from her blue plasma blade and flying off into the distance.

 **A/N** I know the beginning seems kind of similar to the film, but I promise it will diverge. Rose will be in this story, but DJ and Canto Bight will not. **A/N**


	3. Chapter Three

Kylo Ren sat in the chair of his mediations sphere, facing the hologram of his Supreme Leader. Even far away, Snoke has a way of radiating fear in the darkest of souls.

"My master, I have made contact with the girl Rey," Kylo said, "It was weird, the Force was linking us together somehow. I didn't conjure the Force connection, yet she was there."

Snoke did not give a strong reaction to this, but responded, "Did you see where she was? Is she with Skywalker."

"I felt his presence, Supreme Leader, but I cannot tell where they are yet."

Snoke growled at him with impatience. "You must penetrate them with your mind! You must use your force connection to find them and exterminate them! Once you know where they are, you will bring the Knights of Ren to them and wipe them both out."

Kylo nodded firmly, staring directly at the translucent hologram. "As you wish, Supreme Leader."

Just before Snoke's hologram faded, Kylo caught a smile on his deformed facial features.

Dismissing his own suspicions of the Supreme Leader's motives, Kylo reached out in the Force, to the girl who had bested him.

He had plans of his own. He would find Rey and bring her onto his side, and they'd destroy Snoke and rule together. This didn't mean he would abandon the dark side; Kylo still planned to kill Skywalker and enact his revenge. And somehow, he'd make the girl see his point of view.

Yes, their connection was quite strong even though he'd only encountered her once. Their forced bond was one of familiarity, a presence he'd felt before.

He could sense her now, on an ancient faraway world that was strong with the Force.

She was commencing Jedi training, channeling her mind into the Force.

As Rey stood on the oceanside cliff with her hand extended, she concentrated on the countless life forms around her.

Yet it was not the grass beneath her feet, or the tidal waves that beckoned to her. The wind rushing against her face served merely as a barrier to the abyss below.

"Breathe," Luke urged her as he sensed her wandering mind, "just breathe."

Rey obeyed and took a deep breath. She allowed herself to consume and release the air around her.

"Now reach out, and tell me what you see."

The voice of the wise Jedi Master soothed Rey, at least for the moment.

As Rey concentrated on her surroundings, she said, "I see... light. I see... darkness." The island was being pulled apart by the two sides as she stood in the middle of it. She could hear both sides calling to her from far below...

"And between it all?"

Rey now focused on the great divide, the silver lining between the divergence in the aura of the mystical island. She delved deep into it and into her own mind, finding that her mind and the island were one in the same. She felt truly connected to it now.

"Balance."

"Exactly. Between the light and dark, there is a balance. If one side becomes too strong, the other will seek to dominate. That is why balance is needed. The light and the dark, they serve to keep one another in check."

Rey broke her concentration and turned to the Jedi Master observing her. Old tales of love and loss were reflected in his tired eyes. She listened as he continued his talk, trying to block out the beckoning below.

"The Force, for a long time after my father killed the Emperor, was in balance. I was able to restart the Jedi order and help protect the New Republic. Until... my nephew. He was watched for a long time by Snoke, slowly lured in until it was too late. I failed Ben."

"No, Kylo Ren failed you," Rey assured him, "He chose his own way. I sensed nothing but evil in him on Starkiller Base."

"For a long time, for my sake and Leia's, I hoped there was still light in him. But now that I know he killed Han..."

Luke trailed off and gazed out to the noon sky above the ocean. Far below, an ancient species known as the Caretakers tended to the old tree that carried the Jedi texts.

Worried that Luke thought she would go the same way, Rey said, "This is your chance to make it right. I won't fail you like he did."

Two separate teams of X Wing squadrons had been sent out on patrol of the salty world of Crait. As the vehicles scraped against the thin covering over the red soil, a streak of bright crimson followed each fighter.

It was necessary at that point to scan for any life forms or settlements in the seemingly deserted vicinity, friendly or hostile.

"This is Rogue Leader reporting in," Poe said as he steered his craft through the salt mines below the red soiled surface, "nothing so far. Any readings on your end?"

"Copy, Rogue Leader, this is Rogue Two," Temmin Wexley replied from his own vehicle, "I think I may be picking up on something."

"Where are you?" Poe asked him, "I'll come over and check it out with you."

"I am northbound just beyond the end of the salt mines," replied Wexley, "Yeah, definitely something over here. Hopefully we haven't been followed."

In a private, secluded chamber of the base, Ackbar sadly watched over the comatose General Organa, who lay still in the glass case supplying her with air. He prayed that she would be all right, for all his military experience, he doubted the Resistance was able to carry on with the Alderaan princess.

Just before Vice Admiral Amylin Holdo entered, she pointed a remote at the security cameras over the doorway and shut them off. She then pointed it at the medical droid beside Ackbar and did the same.

Holdo then slipped the remote into her simple gown and entered. Ackbar was too focused on the princess to turn and recognize Holdo, so she remained quiet for a moment until the Mon Calamari Admiral acknowledged her presence.

"Vice Admiral."

"Admiral Ackbar."

"Any word from our scouts?" the veteran officer asked her.

"Nothing yet," replied Holdo, "still, I don't see how the First Order could track us here. They weren't tracking us from D-Qar and this planet had been virtually deserted since before Scariff."

Ackbar's comlink beeped all of the sudden, and he reached into his white flight suit to answer it.

"This is Rogue Leader and Rogue Two," Poe said from his X Wing, "We've picked up on some sort of probe droid."

As he steered his craft to get a better look, a sudden shot came from the spherical satellite.

"Look out!" Poe yelled as he dove into the mine trenches in his fighter. BB8 let out a series of droid curses as the blast nearly grazed his head.

"I got you covered, Poe," Temmin said as he fired at the probe droid. The first dose of laserfire barely made contact when it exploded in front of them.

"Yes Admiral, we are definition not alone here," Poe said as they continued across the salt dunes, "We'd better make sure there aren't any more."

Ackbar switched channels and spoke again into his comlink. "Lieutenant Connix, activate the shield generator. We may have company in the near future."

"Commencing activation of shield generator," Connix replied from her post.

Finn crept into the docking bay whose cave mouth allowed ships to enter and exit from the base built into the salt mines.

He had only time to pack a quick bag, as the Resistance was currently occupied by settling into the old war zone and making sure it was safe.

As he snuck towards a forgotten, unused shuttle, Finn felt his insides squirm with guilt. Who was he to abandon the Resistance after they'd taken him in despite his past?

Then again, he knew, he'd undoubtedly have perished at the blade of Kylo Ren if it hadn't been for Rey. He owed her everything. He'd heard what Poe had said about her, but he needed to make sure she was all right.

He'd sensed her on Starkiller Base and he could sense her now. He didn't know what planet she was on, but Finn was sure he could find her using his gut and his heart.

Finn froze as he heard light footsteps, but the patrolling soldier behind the row of fighters didn't notice him.

He proceeded towards the shuttle, looked over his shoulder and crept in. He'd be long gone by the time the Resistance was aware he was leaving.

It was a modest cargo carrier, just right for Finn's purposes. He slipped past the cargo hold into the cockpit. The engines were usable, he decided, they were similar enough to those of the _Millennium Falcon._

The former stormtrooper closed his eyes and reached out into the vastness of the stars. Somewhere, on a remote island planet, Rey was in trouble.

He started the controls and began to take off out of the hangar.

Finn realized that there was no turning back; the Resistance would know he was deserting. The realization that Poe may consider him a desert him hit him like a sack of thermal detonators.

As he began to reconsider, lifting off into the bright daylight sky, a clicking sound rang behind him.

"Don't turn around, traitor," a shaking, low female voice said.

Finn raised his hands as the cargo ship proceeded out through the clouds.

"I've already caught three of you today," the woman behind him said, sounding enraged, "You think you can just come and leave whenever you want? My sister just died helping us escape!"

Finn finally dared to turn around to find a young, plump woman aiming a stun blaster at his head. Evidently she'd come out of the cargo hold.

He sighed in defeat and raised his hands. "Look, I'm sorry. My friend Rey..."

"No one person is more important than the rebellion!" Rose Tico shouted at Finn, "You're a coward and a traitor!"

"Hey!" Finn couldn't help himself now. He stood up and pointed a finger at Rose, who still did not fire. "I left the First Order because I knew it was the wrong side! I risked my..."

"Oh, you're Finn!" the girl exclaimed, her time changing dramatically, "You were one of the heroes on Starkiller Base!"

Finn blushed modestly. "Well I don't know about that...um..."

"Rose."

"Rose, oh kriff."

In front of them, out of hyperspace, emerged the _Finalizer,_ accompanied by five other Star Destroyers and thousands of swarming TIE fighters.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Finn grumbled, "Reverse, reverse!"

He seized the reverse lever and yanked on it, turning around the shuttle as the TIE fighters opened fire.

"General Hux, we have a lone cargo freighter leaving the planet's surface."

"Decimate it," Hux replied, watching the dogfight from the command bridge of the _Finalizer, "_ Demonstrate what we will do to the rest of them."

"Hurry!" Rose shouted as the freighter took a blast from a TIE fighter. The cockpit shook from the hit and the back quarter caught on fire.

"Admits Ackbar!" Commander D'Acy rushed into the medical facility, anxious to report, "We've picked up on, oh!"

She was shocked to find both Admiral Ackbar and a medical droid sprawled on the floor next to Leia's resting chamber. Vice Admiral Holdo held a blaster to the droid where she evidently had just shot it in the head.

"I don't know what happened, commander," Holdo said, grief written all over her face, "this medical droid, it just..." she blinked back tears as she continued... "went crazy. I was unable to save Admiral Ackbar, I'm sorry."

"It looks like you're in command now, Vice Admiral," D'Acy replied mournfully, "We've been discovered by the First Order, our scouts have detected their presence. I don't know how, but they must have tracked us."

Holdo strode quickly out of the medical bay, towards the base's briefing room. "We'll have to man our stations right away. We'll have to mourn later."

"Over there!" Poe spotted smoke coming from the dunes, red dust flying in all directions from where the smoke was rising. "Lets check it out!"

As he flew closer into the dust storm, he could tell that it was a crash-landed shuttle. He could see Finn and a young woman he recognized as an intelligence specialist called Rose coming out of the crash landed freighter.

Before he could land to make sure Finn was all right and investigate, two TIE Fighters came soaring out of the clouds, blasting in his direction.

"Oh, this is not shaping up to be a good day," Poe maneuvered his X Wing upwards as he blasted at the TIE Fighters.

He blew the first one out of the air right away, but the second one managed to avoid him and shot straight down at Finn and Rose.

Poe could make out Finn drawing a blaster and shooting at the fighter as Rogue Two came to help with Rogues Three, Four and Seven.

"It looks like Hux is on to us," Jessika Pava said as she managed to shoot down the TIE Fighter. The outline of a triangular, knifelike Star Destroyer appeared through the sheet of blue above the red dust storm covering their trajectory.

"You guys head back to base, I'm sure Admiral Ackbar will want to see about doing something about this major problem," replied Poe.

A major problem was a huge understatement, he decided.

"BB8 and I need to help out a couple friends."

Vice Admiral Holdo addressed the assembled council in the briefing room. Acting on instinct, the pilots and soldiers were dressed for combat with their weapons and ammunition, the officers listened from their stations and computer posts, and the tech crew stopped what they were doing.

"I most regretfully must announce that Admiral Gial Ackbar, hero of the Clone Wars and Galactic Civil War, has died here on Crait," Holdo said, tears in her eyes, "While he was taking care to visit the incapacitated General Organa, a medical droid...must have been faulty... it just killed him."

"Admiral Ackbar, killed by a medical droid?" Connix asked skeptically.

"Yes," Holdo subtly glared at her as she replied, "by order of seniority, that means I must for now take command. It is with great reluctance that I accept leadership of the Resistance, and I promise I will do my best to lead us through this crisis."

All heads turned to the entrance as Poe came staggering in, Rose and Finn each with an arm around him as he supported them both.

Holdo turned to address the latecomers. "Commander Dameron."

"Vice Admiral Holdo," replied Poe, "Listen, it's really bad, Hux is here with the entire fleet, we need to..."

Holdo held up her hand to silence him. "I have a plan, I will enact it when the time is right?"

"The time is now!" urged Poe, addressing the entire assembly, "They are landing on the salt mines as we speak! We can't let them get through the shield generator."

"Our troopers will set up a defense," Holdo replied icily, "for now, I will dispatch our pilots to counter the navy blockading the planet."

Poe sighed in annoyance, wondering if this woman knew what she would doing. "Listen, madam," he said with as level a tone as possible, "Sending up our fleet right now would be suicide. Right now, we are out gunned and at a disadvantage. We need to stay and concentrate all our resources on defending the shield generator."

All eyes were on Poe and Holdo as they glared dangerously at one another. Poe had been suspicious as soon as he'd overheard that Ackbar had died so suddenly after their arrival, and the First Order had found them just then.

"Listen flyboy, I know your type. You think you're the best man to lead us, you're idealistic, you're confident you can do a better job. And the last thing we need. So get with your pilots, fulfill your assignment, and shut up. Anyone who does not obey their commands or report the their assigned fighting unit will be treated as traitors." She smiled sweetly, which turned into a menacing glare.

Was she trying to get their defense slaughtered, Poe wondered. Yet Holdo was flanked by several armed Resistance soldiers, and in that moment, he decided against arguing further.

"As you wish, Admiral."

As the Resistance pilots rushed to prepare to launch into orbit, Poe took a moment to talk with Finn and Rose as BB8 was lifted into the socket of the X Wing.

"So, we discover a probe droid lurking around, the First Order is able to track us, Ackbar suddenly dies, Holdo is in command," Finn said, "Doesn't sound suspicious at all."

"When we went out into space, we weren't supposed to be able to do that," Rose added, "If the shield generator is working as it should, there would be no way we could just leave into orbit."

"I'd like to do more, but I'm afraid I'll have to go out and fight against the Star Destroyers," Poe said.

"I'll get to the bottom of it," Finn promised him, "I'll do anything I can to investigate this Holdo."

"I'm in too," Rose said, giving a small smile.

"All right," replied Poe as he climbed up into his X Wing, "may the Force be with us all. Ready BB8?"

The little droid replied affirmatively as the cockpit closed around Poe's seat and computer.

The fighters launched out of the hangar, towards the advancing TIEs.

As Finn and Rose began to depart the hangar, the structure shook as laserfire came down on it. The enemy ships arriving within Crait's atmosphere was increasing.

"Rogue Leader standing by," Poe said as they streaked through the swarms of enemy fighters."

"Rogue Two standing by."

"Gold Leader standing by."

"Green Leader standing by."

"Red five standing by."

Each pilots reported in as they blasted down fighters.

"I still say this is suicide," Poe remarked as the B Wing near him took a hit.

They were coming quickly, and outnumbering the Resistance ships. The blue in the sky was soon being obscured by the rows of fighters and the green laserfire coming from their guns.

"Okay, so we need a plan," Finn said as they entered the corridor adjacent to the hangar, "you're an intelligence specialist judging by your uniform. Is there anything you can do to check on communications coming in and out of the place?"

"I'm glad you asked that," Rose had evidently forgotten her intital anger at Finn for trying to leave, "Im pretty sure I'll be able to hack into the holosystem if I'm given enough time."

"We'll have to create a diversion," Finn said, "Any ideas of how to do that?"


	4. Chapter Four

**A/N: In case you guys are wondering, a chapter here is supposed to be maybe ten minutes of movie time, making a total of about 15 chapters. A/N**

Chewbacca had joined Rey and Luke for dinner, and the three of them roasted Porgs around the nighttime campfire.

They had spent the day training, with both mental and physical exercises.

As Rey bit into a leg, a sudden, startling sensation struck her. It was Finn, and her friends, in danger.

He was trying to communicate with her through the Force, she realized, but something else was behind it.

At that moment, a vision flashed before her. Finn was choking, gasping for breath, while a mysterious figure held him up in the air. The Resistance base was under hailfire from First Order ships. Leia Organa lay unconscious from exhaustion, unaware that her life was in very real danger as a dressed up, purple-haired woman aimed a blaster at her.

Rey suddenly felt a sharp pain stroke her forehead, and she reached her hand to it as she grunted.

Chewbacca let out a small noise as Luke frowned at her.

"Something's wrong, I can feel it," Rey said, "the Resistance needs you."

"You must be fully prepared to face Kylo Ren before you go," replied Luke, "I was dangerously unprepared when I first faced Darth Vader and I barely escaped with my life. The Jedi Order needs you to carry on its legacy."

Rey stood up, dropping her food into the fire. Her mind was pulling her in all different directions as she heard the abyss calling to her.

"Rey, don't do this!" Luke shouted to her, "This is not going to go the way you think!"

"I have to see something!" Rey shouted back as she picked up her lightsaber and ran out of the village.

She was very aware of the possibility that the visions that had come to her were a trap, possibly orchestrated by Kylo Ren himself. Before she did anything, Rey decided, she needed to see what was calling to her, with the answers she'd sought out as long as she'd remembered.

As lightning struck in the night sky and the rain started to pour, Rey ventured down the grassy, muddy slope towards the beach. She could still feel the beckoning, growing closer and louder.

 _Rey..._

She quickly descended onto the sand, ignoring the rain assaulting her back and hair. Down on the sand, Rey could make out through the precipitation clouding her vision in the dark a large, transparent hole in the sand, made up of what appeared to be a ring of black energy revolving over the sand.

Rey sensed a disturbance and immediately activated her lightsaber. The dark matter was slowly getting taller above the soaking sand.

Rey held her lightsaber pointing at the swirl as it gradually took the shape of a humanoid.

 _Come, Rey, you will have all the answers._

Hesitating, Rey took a step forward. The rain was fizzling out by now, and the ocean was fairly calm.

The smoke figure reached out an arm to Rey as she came closer, fighting down the fear rising up within her.

When Rey reached out to touch the ring of smoke, she was blasted into another world.

She was on a forest world, near a tall stone structure. A hooded stranger was handing an infant girl to a Jedi Master.

 _That's Skywalker, and that's... me!_

Rey could not believe her eyes as she watched the younger Skywalker carry her into the Temple, and the hooded stranger depart.

The scene shifted, and the baby was now a young child. No words were spoken, but the girl trained with a lightsaber as the bearded Luke Skywalker watched with joy.

Rey shouted out, "This is a trick! Kylo! Stop this!" She waved her lightsaber around, as though hoping to stab whatever was causing her to see these visions.

If this wasn't all and elaborate lie, Skywalker had deliberately hidden the fact that she had once been a small Jedi trainee. _And I thought he was a myth._

"KYLO REN, YOU STOP THIS NOW! I should have known this was your dark side treachery!"

Her brain and heart were about to explode as she was forced to watch the unmasking of her entire life. Now that she was seeing the truth, she wanted nothing to do with it. She needed to believe that Skywalker

"So now you know the truth," the voice of Ren rang out. Rey aimed her saber to the ceiling, to no avail.

"Where are you?"

"Search your feelings. Though you want to dismiss this as a lie, you know it's true. Does this look familiar?"

The scene shifted again and the frightened Rey found herself on the desert of Jakku.

Skywalker was older, and clearly scarred in the mind as well as the body. He was holding little Rey's hand as he spoke to Unkar Plutt.

"You will take this girl to Lor San Tekka," Luke said as he waved his hand, effectively mind-tricking the weak minded Plutt.

"I will safely take this girl to Lor San Tekka," Plutt replied.

Luke let go of young Rey's hand, squatted on his knees and spoke gently.

"Listen, the Force will guide you to me when the time is right. I must go into exile, I've failed. I'm sorry Rey, but I'll only be a danger to you and everything I touch."

The middle aged Jedi broke down as he stood up and began to leave.

"No, come back!" cried Rey as Luke's shuttle took off.

Rey was completely distorted. This was all a lie, yet she'd seen it before in Maz's castle.

The scene shifted a final time, and Rey saw a group of masked warriors, marching through a flaming temple.

"NOOOOO!" Rey screamed, unable to believe it. This was a test, Luke had designed this to test her resolve, and she was failing miserably

At that moment, the unmasked, scarred figure of Kylo Ren appeared in front of her.

"Murderer!" Rey's fury increased at the sight of him.

She pointed her saber in his direction, grasping the sweaty, metallic hilt with both hands. She ran towards the projection without another thought, running the blue blade through his chest.

Kylo didn't fall down, nor did the plasma bar leave a wound of any kind.

Rey's rage turned slightly to confusion as she pulled the weapon out of him.

Kylo looked at her with not anger or malice, but something that resembled sympathy.

"So now you know the truth," he said humbly, "I couldn't believe it either, when he betrayed me."

"He never betrayed you!" Rey shouted, every bone in her trembling, "You betrayed him, like you betrayed your family!" But even at that moment, she knew in her soul that Skywalker had indeed deceived her, and abandoned her on Jakku. Was it impossible that Kylo had been betrayed in a similar manner?

"We have more in common than you realize, Rey," it felt strange hearing the demon speak her name, "please, come with me."

Rey paused as one hand loosened its hold on the lightsaber. She had almost no reason to trust her enemy, and this may yet have been a trick of the dark side.

"You still need a teacher," Kylo told her calmly. She noted grudgingly that he radiated none of the dark aura that he'd possessed at Starkiller Base, and beneath the layers of corruption that he must have undergone, she could sense another intelligent being trying to get her to understand him.

"Please, Rey, come with me, and you'll understand everything."

 **A/N:** I honesty don't think Luke considering killing Kylo is so out of character, if he is afraid of what Anakin did coming undone. The moment in canon passed, but it was too late. **A/N**

Rey's grip on her lightsaber involuntarily slackened as she looked between him and the flaming Temple behind her.

She had little reason to trust him, or to be convinced that this revelation was true. Yet the Force was screaming the truth in her ear, as it had back on Takodana. She'd been too idealistic to realize it.

"Rey!"

From far off, she could head Luke calling to her from the hilltop. The sound of his voice made her all the more outraged that he had intentionally deceived her, and left her on Jakku. _And I thought he was a legend._

"Rey, stop!"

Luke could see her grasping Kylo's hand, disappearing into the abyss with him. For his part, Luke could sense exactly what was happening. Although what Rey had learned was all true, it was a ruse for Kylo to sniff out Luke's location in the Force.

As Luke sensed the young apprentice's connection with Kylo deepen by the moment, he felt her slipping away. "Rey!"

As Rey looked around, she and Kylo were standing in a bedroom. An adolescent boy was sleeping, a hooded figure standing over his bed. Rey gasped in horror as the figure ignites his green bladed weapon.

The younger Luke paused as he stood over his nephew's bedside. He had been about to kill the son of Leia and Han, after his sister and best friend had both entrusted the young man to him.

Just as Luke deactivated the lightsaber, a blue blade came to life as Ben Solo summoned his own weapon.

As uncle and nephew locked blades, the walls around them began to crumble.

"No, Ben!"

And Rey was back on the nighttime beach of Ahch To with Kylo, panting in disbelief.

"He... tried to kill you?"

Kylo looked genuinely sad as he replied. "He thought I was lost, that I wasn't worth saving."

As Rey struggled to take in everything she'd heard and seen, she couldn't help but begin to see Kylo Ren in a wholly different way. Had his parents likewise given up in him, handed him over to the Jedi when they had been afraid of his potential?

"Rey!"

As Luke came running onto the beach, the image of Kylo Ren faded.

Rey immediately activated the blue lightsaber blade, swinging it at Luke as he approached.

"Is it true? Did you leave me on Jakku?"

"Rey, you don't understand!" the Jedi Master shouted as he dodged the blade, "I wasn't ready to tell you, and you weren't ready for the burden!"

"I waited for OVER A DECADE ON THAT DESERT ROCK!" Rey was dangerously close to allowing her emotions to consume her heart. "I didn't know if I would ever be reached! I thought someone would come back for me, but you've been sitting around on your island, while the galaxy needed you!"

This riled up old Master Skywalker. "You think I preferred it this way? I couldn't ever face Leia after I failed her! If it weren't for me, HAN WOULD NEVER HAVE DIED! My best friend and comrade! I wanted to train you, help you finish your journey, but it's too late for me! I would have endangered you to the First Order if I had stayed with you! You were not ready for the burden!"

"And what about Kylo Ren? Was he not ready either? Is that why you tried to kill him?" Rey shook with rage as she swung her blade lightly

"I was going to confront him!" Luke yelled back, "Snoke had been manipulating him for years! When I reached jnto him, I sensed nothing but pure evil! Everything my father and I fought for was in danger! The Force was about to go out of balance again! I had an impulse, and it passed!"

Rey was breathing heavily, a wide range of emotions rushing through her. At the moment, the feeling of her friends at the Resistance was returning, and she realized that her place was with them, first and foremost.

"I have to go," she said, "I don't belong here."

She started up the hill towards the docked _Millennium Falcon,_ the position of the moon indicating that it was around midnight now.

"Rey, the training!" Remembering his own experience, he knew as he spoke that anything he said would be hopelessly futile. Rey was not a small Youngling, she had her own independent ideals and opinions, and far more importantly, people she cared about.

Rey did not respond to Luke as she began to run up the grass towards the village. Chewbacca was munching away, ignoring the entire incident as it went on.

"Chewie, we're leaving!" Rey shouted as she stormed up into the campfire.

Chewie put down his food and growled questioningly.

"We have to help our friends, at the Resistance."

Chewie stood up and let out a more affirmative, confident roar, deciding that that was it for him. He slung his crossbow over his hairy shoulder and followed Rey to the stone steps leading down to the _Falcon._

Luke did not bother following them further, sitting down at the campfire in bitter disappointment.

What was he to expect? He'd been the same as a youth, failing to heed Yoda's warnings and taking off to save his friends from Darth Vader, who he would then learn was his father.

He sighed sadly as the _Millennium Falcon_ shot up into the stars like a comet.

A minute later, a familiar beeping came out from behind him as Artoo wheeled himself into the small deserted village.

"Artoo?" Luke turned to greet his oldest friend and he could not help but have his spirits raised just a fraction of a bit.

Artoo gave an expression of loyalty to his master.

"I'm glad I can still count on you, old buddy," Luke said as he stroked Artoo's head, "You're all I have left."

In his meditation chamber, Kylo took a deep breath of exhaustion as he terminated the connection with Rey.

He now could, through his mysterious bond with the former scavenger in the Force, pinpoint where in the galaxy she and old Luke Skywalker were hiding.

As Kylo prepared to contact the Supreme Leader, he stopped and pondered his next move. Of course, his Uncle would finally be brought to justice, and the girl Rey... she was something else entirely. Kylo had felt it when he'd interrogated her on Starkiller Base.

Now that she knew the truth about Skywalker, Kylo realized that she may be more willing to join him than before. They would join together and then... and then they would rule the First Order themselves.

Kylo sensed victory in the future, victory, yet there was something else to it, something he couldn't place.

Enough thinking, he decided. Activating the holoprojector built onto his armchair, Kylo activated the hologram projecting the image of Supreme Leader Snoke.

"Supreme Leader, I have found the location of Luke Skywalker. They are hiding on a remote island world beyond the Outer Rim."

Snoke smiled to himself, as though he hid a secret from his apprentice, then replied, "Well done, Kylo Ren. If this succeeds, my faith in you will be restored. Now, I want you to go to their location with the Knights of Ren, and exterminate them both."

Kylo hesitated, albeit hiding his reservations in the Force from his wise old master. It was going to be a challenge, risking punishment from Snoke if he did not kill Rey.

"I will see to it immediately, Supreme Leader."

"I will make sure of it."

Snoke terminated the communication, and without delay, Kylo stood and strode to the exit of his chamber.

As usual, he did not acknowledge any passing stormtroopers or officers as he walked towards the hangar, but this time, he radiated even more intimidation without the mask concealing his inner wrath.

Far below the _Finalizer,_ a battle was ensuing between the Resistance defense of their Crait fortress and the First Order's invading ships, but this time, Kylo was completely indifferent. He belonged in an entirely different war, one that would finally be enacted. Much larger things were at stake than bureaucracy and affairs of lesser, weaker beings.

As Kylo stormed the busy hangar towards his docked fighter, a familiar, infuriating voice shouted, "Ren!"

Kylo turned to find General Hux confronting him, escorted by Captain Peavey and four rifle-brandishing black armored shadowtroopers.

"Where do you think you're going?" Hux demanded, "We are this..." he put his gloved thumb and index finger together for emphasis, "close to finishing off the Resistance, and you're walking out. Got some personal errand you need to attend to?"

Having the patience for none of it, Kylo raised a hand and made a fist, telekinetically seizing Hux's throat.

Hux immediately rose off the deck, choking as he reached for his neck. The four elite soldiers aimed their rifles at Kylo but did not fire lest they risk their leader's life.

"The Supreme Leader has plans greater than you can imagine," Kylo said coldly, "it just happens that I am included in those plans and you are not. So mind your place, _General,_ and stick with your own task."

He at last let go of Hux's throat as the commander in chief sputtered for breath, glaring at Kylo with rage.

"You haven't heard the last of this, Ren."

Kylo decided it was a bad idea to kill Hux on the spot, then began to climb into his fighter.

By this time, Poe had led the fighter squadrons into orbit as they engaged the blockading Star Destroyers in a dogfight, while taking heavy losses all at once.

"Poe, we can't possibly hope to achieve anything up here!" Temmin Wexley shouted from his own fighter, "I wonder what Holdo's playing at?"

"I have a couple friends working on it," replied Poe, "We'll only have to keep them busy until... Wexley!"

A blast from the nearest Star Destroyer took out Rogue Two.

As Poe dodged a hail of laserfire heading his way, he muttered, "Come on you guys."

He swerved back up to counter the volley of fighters swarming straight towards him.

"I got a bunch of them on my tail," he reported into the intercom.

"I got you covered, Poe... Oh!"

Jessika Pava was blown up as well, her X Wing fighter spiraling towards the Star Destroyer and crashing into it.

"This isn't looking good, BB8," Poe remarked, beginning to retreat.

As Grand Admiral Holdo watched the progress of the space battle through the holoprojector, she was approached by Lieutenant Connix.

"Grand Admiral, we're losing all of our fighters. We need to order a retreat."

Holdo glowered at the lower officer with contempt.

"I say we keep the First Order out of the planet's surface as long as we can, and it's what I say that counts."

"Yeah, we thought you'd say that," Finn said as he and Rose entered, blasters raised and pointed at Holdo.

Server all guards aimed their weapons at Finn and Rose, but did not fire.

"Is this a mutiny?" Holdo spoke every word with contempt.

"Order the fighters to retreat," Finn said, "Or we'll shoot."

The weapons were set to stun, of course, but Holdo didn't need to know that.

"You're outgunned, these men could just shoot you," Holdo replied fiercely.

"At the cost of your own life?" asked Rose.

Holdo looked to the three holding blasters on her, then around at the soldiers flanking her.

"Very well, have it your way," she seethed.

By the time the signal came up to Poe, he was the last fighter standing, every First Order vessel right on his tail.

"Poe, you still there?" Finn called to him through the intercom.

"Yeah, buddy," Poe replied grimly, "We've lost everybody up here."

"We have Holdo at bay," Finn replied, "Get yourself back here as soon as you can."

"All right, I'm disengaging," Poe replied.

Just then, a TIE Fighter blast came straight for him.

Poe shouted in alarm, maneuvering his fighter downwards, but the blast caught BB8 in the middle of his round head, sending shock waves rippling through him.

"BB8!" Poe yelled as his little friend was silenced and disabled.


	5. Chapter Five

As the Resistance aerial defense was wiped out before his eyes, General Hux stood on the command bridge, facing the entryway with his hands behind his back as Peavey and the silver armored Captain Phasma entered, flanked by a stormtrooper guard.

"General, I'm sure you've seen that we have wiped out their fleet," Peavey reported proudly, "We are ready to begin landing."

"You're sure their defense shield is disabled?" Hux inquired.

"Our inside person has seen to it."

Hux smiled, gazing out at the planet.

"The Supreme Leader will be pleased. Order all TIE bombers to advance on their salt mines. Prepare our ground assault and get my shuttle ready as well."

Practically giddy with the anticipation of seeing personally to the execution of the remaining terrorists, Hux moved quickly past the assembled troopers towards the exit, followed by Phasma who led the stormtroopers after him.

There was no turning back. Finn, Rose and Connix all stood there, their weapons pointed at Holdo.

Holdo herself was unarmed, but her guards had their heavy assault weapons pointed at the three mutineers.

Just then, the golden Threepio came bursting into the very tense and quiet scene.

"Vice Admiral Holdo, I'm afraid... oh my!"

"Yeah, we're kind of in the middle of something," Finn told the protocol droid grittily.

"If I must be the sole voice of reason..."

"If you don't have something nice to say," Rose snapped at the golden droid, "don't say anything at all."

Just then, a deafening noise rocked the command center as the TIE Bombers began their assaults from outside.

"The shield's been down this whole time," Connix said, "Holdo must have deactivated it."

Another, heavier explosion as the main hangar was taken out by the bombers.

"How dare you accuse me of such a thing, I, who risked my life for the Rebellion long before most of you were born!" Holdo looked truly affronted, more than terrified of the deadly raids that put their lives at stake.

"You'd better hope..." Finn began, but st that moment, the rocky ceiling above them collapsed inward.

Everybody dove for cover as the caves began to collapse on the computer equipment.

Finn took Rose in his arms and they ducked underneath a fallen chunk of stone as the cave crumbled around them.

Laserfire rained heavily from above as TIE Fighters advanced into the atmosphere.

Meanwhile, on the salty dunes, ATAT walkers had landed, dropped by heavy First Order cruisers, advancing on the cave containing the Resistance. In a short amount of time, the Resistance was completely backed against the wall as they faced bombings from above and an invasion on land.

In the trenches in front of the cave mouth, artillery cannons had been set up and battalions of soldiers were waiting to counterattack. They were quickly taken out by the TIE bombers in the sky, the fiery explosions and flying bodies blending in with the red dust.

The cavernous mines themselves were on fire as Finn and Rose emerged from the hole in the avalanche where they'd been hiding. With horror, Finn immediately saw that the bloody, bruised Lieutenant Connix had been crushed by the collapsed cave.

The soldiers were recovering as well, and Holdo had seized a pistol.

Coughing as the smoke surrounded them, Holdo pointed her blaster at Finn and Rose, and the other troopers did the same.

Realizing they were trapped, and seeing no way to escape, Finn and Rose raised their hands in surrender.

"You both will pay for your high treason during wartime," Holdo said as the guards held them at gunpoint.

Finn scrambled wildly and in a panic for a way out. They were barricaded outside, their escape route had been cut off, and Holdo had most of the surviving Resistance on her side.

"You," Holdo coldly pointed to Rose, "What is your name?"

Rose did not reply, but looked fearfully to Finn.

"Answer me!" Holdo waved her blaster, gesturing to the nearest Resistance solider.

Rose assumed a braver demeanor, and glared back at Holdo, still silent.

"Shoot her, to make an example for him," Holdo told the guard.

The guard flinched as he received the order. "Vice Admiral, are you sure?"

"This is our darkest time," Holdo replied, "We can't afford to explain to any naysayers."

The guard cringed as though reluctant to carry out the deed, then blasted Rose in the forehead.

Rose only had time to let out a little scream before crumpling onto the smoldering rocks.

"NOOOOO!" Finn roared.

He began to charge, and the guards prepared to fire, but Holdo called them off.

"Hold him here, we need to question him later. Let's not forget that he was a stormtrooper until recently."

The dress-clad de facto leader of the Resistance then turned and climbed over the collapsed rocks, disappearing into the smoky corridor.

From the cockpit of his personal ATAT walker, General Hux leered down at the flaming caves containing the last of the Resistance.

The trenches were completely demolished and no soldier could get within a hundred meters of the armada without being decimated.

"Captain Phasma," he said to the small hologram ok the computer screen, "are your troops ready to enter?"

"We're beginning our march now," Phasma replied, her face hidden by her silver helmet.

From below, Hux could see, their white armor blended in with the salty surface, two rows of stormtroopers marching towards the mouth of the cave. A silver figure was in front of them, and they all were shooting down any survivors from the trenches.

"Let's finish it," Hux muttered to Peavey.

All of the sudden, the cockpit was struck by a ship from above, and rocked.

Hux peered out the window to find a familiar Corellian fighter zooming towards the armada, a cluster of remains from TIE fighter pieces in its wake.

"Blast that piece of junk out of the sky!" Hux yelled, his face again turning the color of his hair.

Rey concentrated intensely as she evaded fire from the ATATs.

Chewbacca let out a roar as he blasted the pursuing TIE Fighters behind the _Millennium Falcon._

As she set her eyes on the ruined Resistance stronghold, Rey mentally mapped out her objectives and the stakes.

It was Finn who she sensed was in danger, and had led her there as a result, but looking at how grave the situation was, it seemed as though she faced the burden of carrying the entire Resistance on her shoulders.

Rey reached out to him to sense him again. He was in immediate danger, she could tell through the Force but awake and alive.

She thought back to what Master Skywalker had taught her about balancing her emotions, and Rey tried to fight down her aching terror and replace it with confidence and an awareness of what she would set out to do.

Yet as she fired at the walkers below, she felt her beating heart getting the better of her mind, and allowed her emotions to carry her as she blasted at the cockpits.

Realizing that the ATATs for now were delayed, Rey began to steer the _Millennium Falcon_ towards the smoking salt caves.

 **AN:** I personally feel as though Episode VIII should be darker than VII, which I feel was the darkest opening installment of a trilogy yet. This would make this one as dark as ROTS, and I feel TFA is about as dark as TESB. IX would be lighter, following the pattern of the original trilogy **A/N**

As Finn remained hopelessly crouching on the smoking cavern floor, he looked up at the sound of footsteps marching into the cave.

The faced soldiers guarding him turned their weapons on the newcomers, and a sea of white entered.

"Oh, kriff!" Finn ducked again as the stormtroopers opened fire on the Resistance troopers.

Though they fired back, the troops were no match for the First Order invaders.

Finn looked away in agony as they fell dead to the laserfire, whose sound drowned out the noise of outside explosions.

When he finally dared to look back, Finn wished he could have remained crouch facing the cave walls forever. Towering down at him was a very familiar, nightmare inducing, silver armored figure.

"Such a pleasure to have you in our company, FN2187," Phasma said menacingly to him, "Don't worry, General Hux has very specific plans for you."

Backing away from the humiliated Finn, Phasma gestured to two stormtroopers, who came over and grabbed Finn, forcing him to his feet.

Too exhausted to struggle, Finn was brought to captain Phasma, forced to look her in the visor of her masking helmet.

"You will pay most dearly for your desertion," Phasma warned him angrily.

"Yeah..." Finn tried to muster up some courage, "What are you going to do, Chrome Dome?"

If nothing else, it felt good to talk disrespectfully to his former superior.

The medical facility equipment had been rendered useless, but Leia was still alive as she lay in her coma.

She was still weakened from her exertion above D'Qar, but she was very much aware of what was happening.

She knew Rey had found Luke and later left him, and why. She sensed Luke's despair on his exiled world, her connection with him reawakened.

She knew her son Ben was on his way to face his uncle and former mentor, vengeance in his heart along with uncertainty.

And she sensed as her oldest friend, Amilyn Holdo, entered her chamber.

Holdo sealed the door shut behind her as she drew her blaster, pointing it at the glass case containing Leia. There was no time to lose, she decided, Hux would have to have proof of her loyalty to the First Order.

So she slipped her finger onto the trigger and pulled.

The laserblast that had left her blaster nozzle never even cracked the glass.

Instead, it flew to the side and struck the wall, and the glass came off as Leia leapt to her feet, a look of devastation about her.

"I never thought you could betray the cause, Amylin," Leia said sadly, yet fiercely, "All these years."

"Anyone who still thinks the Resistance has a chance is deluded. It's time we face the facts."

Holdo backed away from Leia as she walked towards her, firing again.

Leia held her hand up in front of her and stopped the blast.

She then reached out with the Force and took Holdo's blaster, telekinetically wrenching it from her hands.

As the blaster clattered against the wall, Leia came at Holdo quickly. Holdo reached out and wrapped her hands around Leia's throat as she pinned her against the wall.

Choking, Leia kicked out at Holdo, causing her to loosen her stranglehold and stagger backwards.

Leia then reached out, a sudden ruthlessness about her, and used the Force to lift Holdo into the air.

"I'm sorry, Amylin, but in this dark hour, we can't afford any dissent," she said.

"Please!" Holdo shouted in desperation as Leia slammed her against the wall.

Once, twice, crack.

As Holdo lay sprawled on the floor, Leia gave her one last, regretful glance, then hurried out to fulfill her duty to her galaxy.

Rey bared her teeth as she strained, firing with all the will of the Force at the walkers as she flew the _Falcon_ over their heads. She could hear Chewie in the gunner's chair taking down the remaining TIE Fighters.

They made a great team, she realized, one that the surviving Resistance needed vitally.

Through the crimson fog spiraling upward, Rey could suddenly make out a lone figure beside a crashed X Wing fighter. The X Wing pilot was trying to salvage his little droid, whom Rey immediately recognized as... "BB8!"

She immediately steered the _Falcon_ to the wreckage, and as she saw the pilot closer, she realized he'd been there when they'd come back with the unconscious Finn.

Holding onto the damaged BB8 in his arms, Poe watched gratefully as the _Millenium Falcon_ glazed through the colorful hell towards his crash-landed fighter.

As soon as it touched town in the salty dunes, the ramp opened and two figures came out, a young human woman dressed in simple clothing and a Wookiee.

Rey rushed over to Poe and BB8, Chewbacca closely in tow.

"You're Rey," Poe realized immediately, "Finn's been thinking about you nonstop."

"How is he?" Rey asked him right away.

"There's a lot to catch you up on," Poe replied, "I'm Poe Dameron by the way."

"I know this little droid," Rey said as she stroked BB8's nonfunctional form.

"Who doesn't?" Poe said lightly, then turned serious. "We need to get back to the base right away."

"We can give you both a lift," Rey replied as she and Chewie started back to the open ramp of the _Millennium Falcon._

With the faithful Artoo by his side, Luke stood over the beachside cliff, conflict tearing at him.

"I don't know," he said aloud, "I mean, I've done more harm than good to anyone, including Rey."

How hard was it to jump off, and painlessly meet his end? He'd failed at everything; whether rebuilding the Jedi Order or proving worthy of Han and Leia's trust.

"Because I failed Ben, Han is dead," Luke said to Artoo, "Leia could be going the same way. And now I failed Rey. I failed Obi Wan and Yoda, and my father."

Artoo gave him a pleading beep as Luke's feet toes the edge of the deathly jump. Luke would use the Force to hasten his fall to ensure he perished immediately and not suffer. He could turn his lightsaber blade on himself, but he knew that it would be too slow of a Death and he would have too much time to change his mind.

"Listen Artoo, if you see Leia again, tell her I'm sorry," Luke told his little sidekick, "and you've been a great friend all these years. At last, it's time for the Jedi to end."

He closed his eyes, preparing for the jump. There was no turning back.

The Jedi Master jumped off the edge, knowing in a second it would be over.

But when he opened his eyes, Luke was dangling in midair from the tidal wave, not suspended by a cable launched by Artoo, but by a Force ghost standing on the ledge.

Luke must have looked foolish as he was carried back onto the grass and set down in front of the glowing apparition of the late Master Yoda.

"Master Yoda?" it had been many years since he'd seen the ancient former Grand Master, yet it was as though he was meeting him for the first time as a youth once more.

"Young Skywalker," Yoda replied gravely, "lost your way, it seems as though you have."

"I have nothing to go on for," Luke moaned, "All the Jedi are dead, after I promised their families. Snoke and Kylo Ren are out there, with nothing to stop them."

"Forgetting the girl Rey, you are," the ancient green alien chided him, his ghostly apparition appearing as lifelike as the living being he'd once been. "Still hope there is, for the light, and for balance."

"She's chosen her own path, master Yoda, I cannot teach her any more." Luke was forced to grimly relive the truth as he spoke to the venerable Jedi. "She's ready to carry on the torch. I have no more purpose."

Though Luke was nowhere near elderly, he had lived longer than his father ever had, and lost just as much.

"Purpose, does a Master not have, once they have retired?" Yoda asked in the same questioning manner that was trademark for generations of Jedi students. "Purpose, does the last living trained Jedi not have, when his apprentice must face their greatest challenge?"

Yoda had felt very much the same, when Darth Vader had all but destroyed the old Jedi Order and ushered in the Old Empire. Yet he had wallowed for years in regret and bitterness until he was able to fulfill his final purpose as a master, and train Luke to fulfill his duty to the galaxy.

"The job of the master, it is not, to live for glory or victory, nor is it for any Jedi. You, like Obi Wan and I, must pass on what you have learned, as long as there is a Jedi to teach. Only then, succeed in the end you can."

Luke sat down on the grass as Yoda floated around him. "I could have used your help much sooner. Before everything was messed up."

"Wanted to help you, I did," Yoda replied sadly, his wrinkles appearing to increase by triple, "But shut yourself off from the Force you did, when you became disillusioned by the Jedi way."

"I know what I have to do now," Luke said, filled with more determination and purpose than he had in too long. As always, it was the wise old master Yoda who had clearly shown him his path, even when he himself was the old, war weary veteran.

Then, as Luke returned to his feet, a tremor in the Force shook him to the core.

"I sense a terrible ripple in the dark side," he said, "It's... he's found me. He's used Rey to find me."

In the clouds above, the outline of a massive Star Destroyer appeared, a shuttle rapidly descending.

"Your ultimate test, yet to come it is," Yoda concluded, "the Force, your ally it still is, and a powerful one."

"Master Yoda, wait!" Luke called out as the aged figure vanished in the nighttime air.

As he stood alone atop the hill, awaiting his nephew and greatest foe to confront him, Luke realized that once again, it would be up to him to navigate his own path between light and darkness.


	6. Chapter Six

As Finn's hands were forced into binder cuffs by the stormtroopers restraining him, a new wave of First Order troopers entered the remains of the base, led by a guard of elite shadowtroopers. Finn knew who was coming next before his shadow darkened the crevice that allowed sunlight to shine into the collapsed cave.

"General Hux," Phasma said, standing at attention, "We have him."

Hux smiled as he glanced at the captive Finn, who could not bring himself to look at the psychopath who had carried out the essential defeat of the Resistance.

In the distance, Finn could see the crushed pieces of the golden Threepio, destroyed by the collapsing rubble.

"And now the war comes to a swift end," Hux gloated, spreading his arms widely for emphasis, "Well, FN2187, I guess you will realize that the only reason you are not being slowly executed is because the Supreme Leader has specific plans for you."

Finn at last turned his head to the uniformed general, the ultimate leader of the military that had just destroyed the last Resistance defense.

"We have powerful friends," he threatened Hux, summoning another wave of courage, "You are going to regret this day, Armitage Hux."

"Yes, I know all about your Jedi friend," Hux replied, "The Supreme Leader will deal with her too."

The truth struck Finn in the head. He was being used as bait to capture Rey. And she would most certainly come to save him, and bring herself right into the hands of the First Order.

"Just kill me now," he said to Hux, "I... I won't cooperate. I'll resist everything you do, I'll..."

Phasma fired a paralying shot from her blaster, stunning but not killing Finn.

"Fetch a vice from my shuttle to hold him in," Hux ordered the nearby sergeant, "I don't think you'll live for long."

Just then, a large thud blasted a chunk of rock out of the pathway and there stood the dressed up Leia Organa, hand raised and blaster in hand.

At another time, Finn would have been filled with hope at this recovery, but too much had been lost, possibly even Poe.

Hux immediately gestured to the shadow troopers.

Harpoons fired from their rifles and caught Leia around the arms and legs, sending her falling onto the hard, smoky ground and wrapping the cables around her.

"I don't think so, Organa," Hux snarled at Leia, standing over her and looking right into her courageous, steadfast soul, "I know about your sorcerer's ways."

To the surrounding stormtroopers, Hux shouted, "Take them both to my shuttle!"

The stormtroopers holding Finn began to drag him towards the rocks that allowed a pathway out through the smoke, while several others rushed to pick up the bound-up Leia and drag her out as well.

The three of them were now in the cockpit of the _Millennium Falcon;_ Rey, Chewbacca and Poe Dameron, hovering down towards the mines that had been reduced to rubble by the devastation of the First Order attack.

"Over there!" Rey could see, through the crimson colored fog, a parade of stormtroopers marching towards a docked shuttle, two vices being pushed.

Rey gasped in horror as she realized Finn and General Organs were tied to the vices being led towards General Hux's ship.

"FINN!" she could not help crying out in fear as her friend was pushed aboard Hux's shuttle.

She moved her hand to the trigger that fired the _Millennium Falcon's_ front guns, but to her surprise, Poe Dameron caught her wrist.

"We can't risk blowing up Finn or General Organa," he pointed out, "We'll have to land to try and rescue them.

As Chewie grabbed his crossbow and slung it over his shoulder, Rey intently began to steer the _Falcon_ downward towards the First Order procession.

Down below, Hux saw the _Falcon_ and shouted for the white armored troopers to fire on it.

Finn looked up from his ropes and shouted, "Rey!" as the blasterfire streaked towards the old freighter.

Leia gazed upwards as well and murmured, "Luke."

"Quickly, bring them aboard!" Hux roared as he hurried to the ramp leading into his shuttle.

The stormtroopers pushing the two prisoners quickly brought them into the shuttle after Hux.

Firing on the _Falcon_ as they fled into the shuttle as well, Phasma and the stormtroopers followed suit as they disappeared.

Rey allowed her more rational thoughts to keep her in check and held her fire as Hux's ship lifted off and headed up towards the clouds above.

"We have to follow them!" Poe exclaimed as Rey steered the _Millennium Falcon_ upward after the shuttle.

Rey reached out in the Force and sensed that for now, both Finn and Leia were all right.

Of course, she knew that Kylo knew of her bond with Finn, and planned to use him to trap Rey. Rey was beyond willing to walk into any trap the First Order had in store for Finn, Leia or anybody in the Resistance. She would face down Kylo and any other enemy who reckoned with her, and ultimately conduct an attempt to bring Kylo Ren back to the light, for Leia's sake as much, if not more, than Ben's.

The pursuit led them out of Crait's atmosphere into the vacuum of space, where the fleet of Star Destroyers was waiting. Anticipating what was this come, General Hux spoke into the intercom of his shuttle.

"Attention, this is General Hux. You will not open fire, I repeat, you will _not_ open fire on the _Millennium Falcon._ The Supreme Leader has something very specific planned for the passengers on board. No matter what, do not fire on them."

Rey sensed the danger even before the TIE Fighters emerged from underneath the _Finalizer_ and surrounded the _Millennium Falcon_ around the entrance to the Star Destroyer hangar as the Imperial shuttle descended inside it.

"They're trying to draw us in," Rey said as she observed the fighters from the front window, "you do realize we're waking into a trap."

Poe shrugged, managing to come off as nonchalant despite the severity of their predicament. "Story of my life, you know what I mean?"

Rey nodded and said, "Chewie, go see if you can blast them away from us."

Chewie growled back and climbed out of the cockpit towards the gunnery.

As Rey steered the _Falcon_ in circles between the swarm of fighters and the open, ensnaring hangar entrance, Chewbacca opened fire on the TIE Fighters.

Both Rey and Poe expected the enemy fighters to fire back, but they did not and miraculously allowed Chewbacca to shoot them down without Resistance.

"Are we prepared to face them all down?" Poe asked, his anxiety growing as the fleet formed a circle surrounding the single, seemingly insignificant freighter.

"We'll see," Rey answered as she surveyed the approaching fighters, coming at them by the hundreds.

Sitting in his red-lit throne room, flanked by both his Praetorian guards and his robed advisors, Supreme Leader Snoke pondered the First Order's next move. The Resistance was all but completely disintegrated by Hux and the army at his command, but there were many systems that still needed to be conquered and brought under his rule.

Now, Snoke realized, his main priority would now be ultimately bringing an end to Skywalker and the ways of the Jedi. He had sent the Knights of Ren after Skywalker knowing they would fail and die. They were far too great a threat to his power, and Snoke was very aware that Kylo Ren hoped to use the dark warriors at his command to destroy Snoke and rule the First Order himself.

Kylo's ambition would make him a good Sith apprentice, Snoke knew, but he could not be allowed to train another as long as Snoke was alive.

As Snoke's thoughts poured through his aged brain, the button on the side of his throne blinked loudly. The Supreme Leader reached his gnarled hand to activate the holoprojector displaying the uniformed, capped General Hux.

"Supreme Leader, we have succeeded in wiping out all life forms inside their base. We have captured both General Organa and the defected stormtrooper. We are close to luring the scavenger girl into our trap."

"I will not forget this, General," Snoke replied, "You continue to do the First Order proud. Soon, I will see who is worthiest to serve at my side."

Luke was still standing atop the cliff as the shadowy beings climbed up towards him. Feeling the Force flowing through him like he hadn't in too long, the veteran Jedi Master gripped his lightsaber hilt as he awaited the Knights of Ren.

Seeing his nephew as an adult for the first time, Luke recognized young Ben right away, both by his features and the aura of fear mixed with pride that he radiated in the Force.

He was familiar with the unmasked Knights of Ren as they flanked their leader; they had all been his pupils before Kylo Ren had pulled them to the dark side.

Tahiri Veila, Brakiss, Lumiya, Zekk, Kyp Durron, Tamith Kai, they all wore the same armor-robes as Ben did. While he carried the lightsaber he'd constructed following his betrayal of the Jedi, the dark side warriors below Kylo brandished weapons such as staffs and vibroblades.

His eyes reflecting the haunting effects of dark side usage, Kylo stepped onto the summit to confront his uncle. His uncle looked as pathetic and cowardly as he had thirteen years before.

The two men exchanged a deathly stare for a daunting moment, the Knights of Ren watching intently, ready to attack on their leader's command.

Finally, it was Kylo who spoke. "Luke Skywalker. We meet again, for the last time."

"So be it," replied Luke simply, "it will be the last time."

"Where is she?" demanded Kylo, "What have you done with her? I know she was here!"

"If it's Rey you came for, you're too late," Luke said calmly, "she has gone."

A long blade and two smaller side blades cane to life from Kylo's saber. Luke activated the green glow of his own weapon, holding it in a classic defensive stance.

"Your faith in the light side will finally be your end, Skywalker," Kylo warned in a low voice, "you cannot hope to face all of us."

"It is you who is too faithful in the Force," Luke informed him, "I know the monster you have become." His voice and expression now slightly betrayed the anger he felt. "I know what evils you have committed."

"Han Solo needed to die," Kylo replied calculatingly, "as do you."

"Kylo?" Tahiri asked him eagerly.

"Tear him apart!"

Kylo and the six Knights present all held out their weapons towards their enemy and advanced.

As it seemed like Luke was trapped on the edge of the cliff, he sprang up and flipped over their heads, throwing off his cloak as he did so.

As Zekk charged at Luke first, the Jedi Master allowed some of his darker emotions to seep in as he met Zekk's electrical blade with his bar of energy.

The two weapons clashed, and without a second thought, Luke moved his lightsaber to the side she stuck it through Zekk's side.

As Zekk fell onto the grass immediately dead, Luke picked up his vibroblade without touching it, his metal hand outstretched while his flesh hand gripped his saber.

The sharp weapon stabbed through the neck of an unsuspecting Tamith Kai, and she too, crumpled dead.

As the others all advanced at once, Luke backed away with his lightsaber at the ready, unafraid of whatever awaited.

As the TIE Fighters surrounded the _Millennium Falcon,_ Rey concentrated intensely at each one, all with a single, anonymous pilot inside, and blasted them out of the system.

She took out her rage as she shot down the fighters, hitting about five per second.

They were surrounded on all sides, yet mysteriously they were not firing. Kylo wanted her strictly alive, Rey realized, and Chewbacca and Poe were lucky to be on the _Falcon_ with her or they would have Death marks on their backs.

"General Hux, we're getting taken out and she's not taking the bait!"

Stroking his chin contemplatively, Hux paced the command bridge of the _Finalizer,_ studying the scene.

He replied into the intercom, "I will speak with her directly."

To the captain stationed below, he ordered, "Send a transmission to the _Millennium Falcon."_

As Rey continued to blast the fighters surrounding them, the radio of the _Falcon_ buzzed.

"You have fought well, Rey," General Hux spoke to Rey, sending a shiver up her spine. Even without seeing him, he sounded far more terrifying than Kylo Ren. "But it is time for you to get the message. You will bring your craft aboard the _Finalizer_ and land slowly, or we will execute your friend Finn and Leia Organa."

Rey gasped in horror as she realized how backed up against the wall they were.

"What do we do?" Poe asked, uncharacteristically panicked.

"We don't have a choice," Rey decided, her rational thought process beginning to come forth once again, "We'll have to negotiate with Hux."

"We're waiting!" Hux snarled impatiently.

Rey cleared her throat as she spoke to Hux. It took far more bravery to speak to Armitage Hux over the radio than to challenge Kylo Ren to a duel.

"General Hux, this is Rey on the _Millennium Falcon_ , we have received your message. We..." she hesitated, uncertain if she wanted to go through with it, even to save her friends, "We will board your Star Destroyer under conditions. If you... do not accept the terms, the _Falcon_ will jump right to hyperspace and take out a dangerous number of your fighters on the way."

"We have your friends right here with the firing squad," Hux said as he entered the hangar.

Finn and Leia were both strapped to vices as a large squadron of stormtroopers had their blasters aimed at them, Phasma in the lead.

Leia looked to Finn and whispered, "If there was a time where we needed my brother's help, this is it."

To the officers below deck, Captain Peavey said, "Prepare to command the fleet into light speed as soon as the _Millennium Falcon_ touches down."

Rey replied to Hux, her fear leaving her as she continued, "General Hux, I know that it is me the First Order and your Supreme Leader want. I will surrender myself to you, if you let all my friends go free."

"No, Rey, what are you doing," Poe whispered as Chewbacca similarly expressed his dissent.

"Trust me," Rey whispered back. She then spoke again to Hux.

"Well, General? Do you accept my offer?"

Silence on the other end. Rey held in her breath; for all she knew, Finn and Leia could be dead all ready. No, she would have sensed it in the Force.

"You foolish Jedi girl," Hux replied on the other end, "Captain Peavey, prepare to bring the fleet to light speed. Scavenger filth, if you want to rescue your friends, you'll have to fall right into the Supreme Leader's trap."

"No!" Rey found her rage growing as the engines of the _Finalizer_ advanced, then sped off into the vacuum of space. The other Star Destroyers followed suit, disappearing in light speed nearly in harmony. The TIE Fighters likewise vanished along with their command ships, entering hyperspace and creating a vacuum of dark matter in their wake.

Chewbacca let out a furious roar as Rey fired the _Falcon's_ guns out of sheer frustration.

"This is a trap, for you," Poe said wearily as they watched the massive vessels disappear, "are you going to take the bait?"

Rey considered the situation, putting her head in her hands.

Chewbacca let out a supportive grunt and sat next to Rey in the copilot's chair.

"He's right," Poe told her tenderly, "whatever you decide, we'll risk it all with you. What do we have to lose?"

Rey gazed up at her newfound ally. "Our friends' lives are at stake. This is a dark side trap, for me. I need to take the responsibility."

"No," Poe replied, "We're with you too the end, Rey. _We_ are all that's left of the Resistance. We are the spark that will light the fire that will burn the First Order down. And that is why we, the last remaining members of the Resistance, must stick together and build ourselves back up from all this death and destruction. Now, let's go and rescue Finn and General Organa, if we know where they're headed."

"The Force will guide me to them," Rey answered, the confidence in her growing, "And when the time comes, I will not back down from Kylo Ren."

She had her own plans when she eventually encountered the dark warrior again, plans that would turn the tide in favor of the light side of the Force as well as the Resistance, and bring about the downfall of Snoke.


	7. Chapter Seven

On Ahch To, the battle intensified as Luke battled the more powerful Knights of Ren. Tahiri, Brakiss, Lumiya and Kyp all battled him at once as their weapons clashed against his blade.

As Luke backed into the village, he reached forward with his lightsaber and flicked his wrist, sending the long blade flying towards Lumiya.

The female warrior was unable to avoid the green rod of energy as it ran through her stomach.

Brakiss, Kyp Durron and Tahiri advanced on Luke as he stood weaponless.

Just then, the three of them simultaneously dropped their staffs, reached for their throats, and started choking.

As Luke reached out to his opponents with his flesh hand, he concentrated on not only his rage at the situation he had damned himself to, but at the monsters who had committed such atrocities.

"The Knights of Ren end today," Luke spoke directly to Kylo as the trio of dark warriors began to lose conciousness, all three crumpling onto the grass in defeat. "You have underestimated me and my connection to the Force. Your army of dark warriors was defeated by their overconfidence, just like all users of the dark side

Kylo seethed with hatred as he waved his red blade of hell, illuminating his face. His Knights of Ren may have failed him, but he would prove that he himself was capable of murdering his uncle without mercy.

As Luke reached his hand to Force-choke Kylo, the younger warrior summoned Luke's blade that was impaled in Lumiya and summoned it into his other hand.

Holding both his own three bladed red lightsaber and Luke's singe bladed green one, Kylo Ren let out a yell and launched himself at Luke.

Luke waved his still-outstretched hand and sent Kylo tumbling to the side with a push.

As Kylo shouted out in fury and regained his footing, Luke reached out to his lightsaber and summoned the activated blade back into his metallic hand.

Before Luke could attempt to use the Force for attack any more, Kylo rushed to him to make up the lost ground, striking at the old Jedi Master with all his hatred. Luke's green blade deflected the deathly stroke, but Kylo's aggression sent him stumbling backwards.

Luke brought up his blade again to clash against Kylo's.

The two fueled their way through the village down the hillside, towards the stone steps leading down to the hill.

"You always feared my abilities!" Kylo said as the duel continued, "You knew that I'd be capable of killing you."

"I never thought you ever could for a second!" Luke shouted back at his nephew, "My fear was that you would think you could!"

"I know I can, and I will!" Kylo's next blow came with such aggression that Luke found himself tumbling backwards down the hard steps.

The landing send a strong, rocky sensation jabbing into his back. The pain searing through him, Luke stood up as Kylo charged again.

Kylo moved to deal a blow to Luke's head, so Luke immediately swung his lightsaber upward to defend it against the blade of hell.

Kylo changed directions at the last second, and, rather than bringing his saber up to meet Luke's, caught him in the leg.

Luke could not help but to cry out in pain as the slash cut through his thigh.

Kylo brought up his boot and kicked his uncle in the chest, sending the still-agonized Luke falling down the slope.

Forced once more onto his back, Luke raised his lightsaber to ward off the blade crashing down towards him.

This time, Kylo was forced backwards, allowing Luke to spring back up to his feet, ignoring the seeping pain running down his leg.

As Luke reached out once more to Force-choke Kylo, Kylo extended his own hand and seized Luke's throat at the same time. For a moment, both uncle and nephew stood on the steps of the first Jedi temple, using the dark side to strangle one another.

Then, channeling all his rage toward his uncle, his parents, and the galaxy, Kylo squeezed at Luke with tenfold the intensity, and Luke's face changed color as he collapsed onto the hillside, lifeless.

Kylo cautiously stepped over to his uncle, gazing down at his form. Luke's bearded face had lost its color, his eyes were closed.

Kylo picked up Luke's lightsaber, then deactivated both blades. He was detecting no life signs from Skywalker. It was almost too good to be true, after his Knights of Ren had all fallen to Skywalker's power, Kylo had singlehanded triumphed and brought his saber back as proof.

"The last Jedi is finally dead," he muttered. Then, without sparing Luke Skywalker another thought, Kylo turned and started backup the stone steps towards his transport.

After several minutes, Kylo's shuttle lifted off back out of Ahch To's atmosphere. Only then did Luke allow his life signs to return, and he opened his eyes slightly as if to indicate that he was in fact alive.

Both Finn and General Organa were strapped to a Vice as they were brought into Hux's personal chamber. The First Order general stood as Phasma and two additional stormtroopers brought the prisoners in.

"General Organa. FN2187. You don't know how pleasurable it is to have you as my prisoners, your lives in my hands."

"Armitage Hux," Leia glared at him directly in the eye as she stared him down with her classic defiance, "Its a shame that they used a boy like you for this."

"Don't use your royal nobility on me, old hag," Hux spat, "Your friend will come to us, traitor," he spoke to Finn now, "I know all about your precious Force bond."

"Just kill me!" Finn yelled desperately, hoping to annoy the commander in chief just enough, "You're a piece of bantha fodder, you belong in a pauper's grave on Jakku, you..."

Slap. "That's enough from you, traitor."

"You don't know anything about the Force," Leia informed him, "You can't begin to imagine what it is capab..." Leia stopped as her throat began to close.

With horror, she realized that it was in fact Hux holding up his hand, depriving her of air.

"It's just that easy," the First Order general said furiously, "Don't tempt me. Your son is not the only one the Supreme Leader has trained in the Force, as you can see."

Then he let go and Leia only then realized how badly they had underestimated the dark side.

Turning her head towards Finn, Leia murmured, "If there was ever a time my brother's help was needed, this is it."

"Rey," Finn muttered, squirming in the restraints enveloping him.

As Rey reached out with her mind, she tried to penetrate Finn's mind, to get a feel for where he was, she could sense him, calling out to her. "Finn."

"What's that?" Poe had been working on fixing BB8, while Chewie sat beside Rey in the copilot's chair, "You can tell where he is."

"I can feel him in the Force," answered Rey, "I can follow him by feeling, General Organa too."

"I've nearly got this little guy fixed," Poe said absently as he returned to work on BB8.

Snoke awaited eagerly on his large throne as Kylo Ren entered, carrying two lightsaber blades in his hands. One Snoke recognized as Ren's own, the other he surmised belonged to Skywalker.

Kylo wasted no time or words and held forth Skywalker's constructed saber as he knelt before the feet of his master.

"Well done, my apprentice," Snoke commended Kylo, "You have killed the last of the Jedi Order, and there is nothing to stand in our way any longer." He took Skywalker's lightsaber from Kylo's hand and set it on the arm of his throne.

"Supreme Leader..." Kylo could not hold this back, he hoped the Supreme Leader would be more forgiving now that Skywalker was dead. "The Knights of Ren. All of them are dead now."

"Their lives matter not," Snoke replied dismissively, his deformed features forming a smile, "All that matters is that the Jedi Order is no more. You have succeeded where both Vader and Sidious failed."

The elevator entrance slid open once again, and a party that included Hux, Phasma, Finn and Leia entered.

Kylo had not sensed his mother nearby, and was completely caught off guard by her appearance as Hux's prisoner. He looked away to avoid her gaze, which was very much on him.

Leia knew of the animal her son had become, but seeing him for the first time since he'd gone away with Luke was something else completely.

Before her was not the boy she'd held, the boy who she'd hoped to save.

This was a man consumed by darkness and the training of Snoke.

"Hux, Phasma, leave us."

The two of them obeyed, exiting through the turbolift.

Leia Skywalker," Snoke's interest was now entirely on her as she faced him down, "Heiress to Lord Vader, failed Jedi. By now you must know that your son can never be turned from the dark side."

Leia's heart wrenched as she stared at the back of Kylo Ren, then she looked back at the revolting being on the throne.

"Snoke. You've created a monster out of my son and the galaxy."

Snoke stood from his throne and slowly moved his frail body towards the prisoners. "You know what is coming next, don't you? Kylo Ren!"

Very reluctantly, Kylo turned to face his mother for the first time, taking in her appearance all at once. She was not afraid to look at him, and she regarded him, as he expected, with disappointment and shame.

"Now, my young apprentice, you will face your final test of killing the mother of Ben Solo, and you will be totally one with the dark side."

Kylo said nothing, and remained standing where he was. He twiddled with the lightsaber in his hand as the possibilities gnawed at him.

"There is no Resistance or Republic to run back to," Snoke taunted the prisoners as he paced the throne room, "Victory is mine, and you are nothing."

"As long as the Jedi way survives, there will always be hope," Leia would not be defeated so easily, if only in a battle of words.

Kylo's feet were planted on the throne room floor. They all stood there, the pressure piling onto him; Hux, Phasma, his mother.

For the first time, Leia spoke directly to her son. "It's not too late, Ben. There's still a place for you in the universe, away from the man you think you've become."

Kylo gritted his teeth as he forced out a reply, still unable to look at his mother directly. "You don't know what I've become. You don't know what I've done."

Leia found it difficult to go on. Yes, he had killed his father, her Han, but he was still her son. He was still worth saving, as Han would have wanted, no, as Han still wanted.

"That wasn't you, Ben," she gulped, resisting the urge to burst into tears, "You're still a good person inside. I know you want to let it all go. It is not too late to save yourself."

At that moment, Snoke reached to Leia, seizing her by the neck.

"Enough of your fork tongued witchcraft," he snarled, "Kylo Ren, you will do it now!" The Supreme Leader was growing furious.

Kylo took a slight step forward, pointing the hilt of his weapon. Now, with more emotional willpower than he humanly possessed, Kylo tilted his head to look his mother directly into her pleading, hopeful eyes. Hopeful that the darkness would not consume him infinitely. That he could still come back, despite the heinous crimes under his name.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Snoke screamed, raising his gnarled fingers.

Lightning aimed straight at Leia, sending her flying across the hangar.

The effects of Snoke's dark energy left the princess and General lying limp on the floor of the hangar.

"Perhaps a demonstration is in order," Snoke sneered, now turning to Finn.

Reaching out to the young man, Snoke grabbed him in the Force and lifted him into the air.

Kylo watched from his appointed vantage point as Snoke hurled another round of dark energy into Leia as Finn dangled in the air.

As Kylo looked away in sorrow, Leia was now totally lifeless and still.

"Do not worry, young apprentice," Snoke taunted, using the Force to lift up Leia's body, "she is not dead. You see, I have the power to stop people from death, even when nothing else can save them. That is a power you too can learn, if you prove worthy as my Sith apprentice."

Kylo now looked questioningly to his master as Snoke went on. "Yes, I am a Sith Lord, and I have brought about all that has transpired through the will of the dark side. I alone have the power to hear death. I cannot be defeated, as I am the master of the living and dead! So now, grandson of Vader, you will execute Leia Solo or you will suffer most grievously by watching her die AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN!"

Unable to stand it any longer, Kylo let out a scream and ignited his lightsaber. It was not Leia whom he attacked, but Snoke. He brought his blade through Snoke's golden robe, deep into his chest.

As Kylo pulled the blade out, Finn dropped to the floor unconscious and Leia stirred feebly.

Snoke gaped at his apprentice, then, the wound that had formed disappeared and the blood clotted.

"You see? I cannot be killed, for only I, the true dark Lord of the Sith, have unlocked the secrets of immortality. And you, Ben Solo, are nothing but a little boy too afraid to seize what could have been his."

A brutal round of lightning sent Ben flying across the throne room, the seeping agony rippling through him.

Snoke picked up Skywalker's green bladed weapon and ignited it, stepping forward.

At that moment, the sound of a lightsaber above them sounded, and a gaping hole in the throne room ceiling came crashing down in front of them.

With that, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, Rey, the Last Jedi Padawan, dropped down onto the metal floor, wielding her blue blade of power.

"Ahh, I have been expecting you, young Rey," Snoke said eagerly, "I have long watched you, thinking you had what it took to replace Kylo Ren and be the perfect apprentice. If you kill this weakling here..." Snoke pointed with the green blade towards Kylo Ren, "I will have been proven right."

Back on the island world of Ahch To, Luke Skywalker stood on the sand, at the bottom of the cliff, hand raised. Artoo Deetoo stood excitedly beeping at his side as a small, yet seemingly large amidst the bottom of the ocean, X Wing fighter emerged.

With no effort except for the power of his mind, Luke levitated the soaking ship out of the ocean where it had been abandoned for a dozen years, and gently guided it towards the sandy shore. Sighing with fatigue, Luke set down the X Wing fighter and patted Artoo on the domed head.

"Ready to fly again, old buddy?"

As Rey took in the scene, Finn lying helplessly, Leia barely alive as she recovered from Snoke's deadly attack, Skywalker having abandoned her and lied about it, the dark emotions inside her began to take effect. She wanted nothing more than to unleash her powers on those who had wronged her.

With a yell, Rey impulsively charged at Supreme Leader Snoke, who blocked her strike with Luke's blade.

"Perhaps you need a lesson," Snoke said as he and Rey clashed blades.

Reaching behind her, Snoke lifted Finn up into the air.

"NOOOOO!"

Rey lashed out harder, striking at Snoke again and forcing him to take the defensive.

"Good, Force child," commended Snoke, "Your feelings for your friends are strong. Unleash your fullest potential and _fulfill your destiny!"_

With that, Snoke reached his hand and sent Rey flying across the chamber. He held her suspended with the Force, probing in her mind.

 _No, no,_ Rey tried to block out the Supreme Leader's influence as she hardened her resolve.

But she could feel him prying into her deep, dark nature, influencing her towards the dark side.

It was all over.

But then Snoke's concentration was broken, and he allowed Rey to fall onto the floor.

Gazing up, to her disbelief, Rey could see Kylo Ren attacking the Supreme Leader with his red lightsaber, engaging him in combat.

"You won't touch her again!" Ben was shouting as he and Snoke locked blades.

"This is only the beginning, my former apprentice."


	8. Chapter Eight

"Got him all fixed," Poe said as Chewbacca brought the _Millennium Falcon_ underneath Snoke's ship. The Resistance commander held up the newly repaired BB8, removing the screwdriver from his head.

Chewbacca merely grunted in reply as the ship used its stealth mode to avoid any patrolling TIE Fighters.

"Okay," Poe said as he sat down next to Chewie "While Rey keeps them off our backs, we can sneak into the Star Destroyer and BB8 can do his tricks to get them out."

Chewbacca growled a question to Poe as BB8 rolled up to their feet.

"We can get BB8 to get the blueprint of the place and find out where they are. I hope Rey made it in okay."

Rey picked up the Skywalker lightsaber as Kylo kept Snoke at bay via lightsaber combat. Her heart pounding and her brain aching, Rey rushed again towards Snoke, who turned again from Kylo and sent her flying backwards.

"There is no escape," Snoke gloated as green acid clashed against red lava, "It was I who brought about your connection to the girl in the Force. While she believed she was coming through a connection to her stormtrooper friend, it was actually a beacon in the Force orchestrated by myself. I knew you had no stomach to finish off your mother. As soon as I discovered that the girl bested you, I thought that she would make a far more worthy pupil. Now, the Resistance is utterly demolished, and the Sith once more reign supreme. The First Order was the greatest pawn in my ultimate plan."

Rey once more regained her footing to charge, but then was met by the Praetorian Guards, who formed a circle around her as they brandished their long electrified blades.

She reached in to the deepest nature of the Force, calling on the light side to serve her. If nothing else, she could appreciate Skywalker's lesson that _Each side of the Force is channeled by the ones who use them._

As she made her next strike against Supreme Leader Snoke, she could feel the light side flowing through her, obeying her commands.

Distracted by Ben Solo's onslaught, Snoke was this time caught off guard by Rey's blade as it made contact with his neck.

Snoke stumbled to the side as the wound healed, raising his hand and from his fingertips, unleashing massive Force lightning against Rey.

"REY!"

It was both Ben and Finn who shouted her name as Rey screamed as the deathly pain writhed through her bones, her organs, her soul.

As Finn attempted to stand and help, Snoke waved his hand, concentrating intently. A bubble made of nothing but solidified air formed around Snoke, Ben Rey, and the eight Praetorian Guards, allowing nothing else to enter.

Rey now found herself too weak to fight back. She rolled meekly on the hard, ruthless floor as Snoke circled around her.

"Perhaps you are too headstrong to be kept alive. I had hoped to make a deadly assassin of you, young Rey, but you are too much of a threat."

Departing a small, secret hatch of the _Millennium Falcon,_ BB8 hovered through the short, yet infinite vacuum of space between the last Resistance transport and the bottom entrance to the _Supremacy_ that led to an empty elevator shaft.

"May the Force be with you, BB8," Poe whispered as the little droid disappeared into the capital ship of the First Order, undetected by the patrolling scouts on the gantries and corridor bridges.

Rey was barely alive as Snoke hit her with another round of lightning. Once the insidious attack ceased, Snoke turned to his red helmeted and robed Praetorian guards.

"Finish the scavenger while I attend to young Solo."

As the Praetorian Guards advanced on Rey, their feet stomping every inch closer with a vengeance, Snoke turned to face Ben Solo, who stood bravely with his red blade still ignited.

"As is the way of the Sith," Snoke whispered as he advanced.

Just as he moved to strike his former protege, the green lightsaber flew out of his hand and whizzed straight over the heads of the Praetorian Guards and out of the Force enhanced bubble trapping them all.

As the Praetorian Guards prepared to bring their weapons down to kill Rey, all eight of them were somehow levitated off the floor of Snoke's throne room.

As Rey found the strength to look up, she saw the red bodies floating in a dazzling spectacle up towards the hole that Rey had cut open.

A second later, all eight elite guards came crashing down in a pile of crimson robes bodies.

A lone figure, brown cloaked and with one flesh and one robotic hand, slowly entered the throne room through the main entrance, carrying the activated saber he had once built and now had taken from Snoke.

With a scream, Snoke sent a bolt of lightning at Ben Solo and knocked him towards the edge of the Force field.

"So, you are a failure as well as a traitor. Luke Skywalker is alive, and your mistake may yet cost the Firsr Order gravely."

Behind his extreme rage, Rey could with a savage pleasure sense intense fear in the dark entity, fear of Skywalker's power despite his supposed immortality.

Now Leia stirred, fully regaining conciousness as Luke strode across the room towards the arena.

"Luke," she whispered gratefully. For all the time he'd stayed away when he was desperately needed, her brother had come through when it counted the most.

Luke did not give any physical acknowledgment towards his estranged twin sister, but as he stared down his enemy, Leia could sense him responding to her in the Force, radiating the same warmth and love she had known from him.

Yet while Luke's heart was filled with love not only for his sister but the cause that he was fighting to revive, his expression and aura towards Snoke suggested nothing but cold fury.

Extending his lightsaber blade so it pointed directly at the Supreme Leader, Luke used the Force to dismantle the bubble dividing the throne room.

Ben backed away with uncertainty as the man who he had recently tried to kill approached. Rey radiated no gratitude to Master Skywalker, yet despite her lingering anger, she could not help but realize that he was now the savior of the cause, as Leia had predicted.

"At last the Jedi returns," Snoke snarled at Master Skywalker, circling like a predator, "I should have known that your nephew had no stomach to finish you."

"I defeated your Knights of Ren," Luke replied, "and I will not allow you to harm any of my friends further."

"Even your delusional mind cannot think you can destroy me," Snoke said with his teeth bared, "Not even Lord Sidious could best me, although I let him think he did. Do you know who I really am, Skywalker?"

"Yes I do, Darth Plagueis," Luke said calmly, "and I am not here to defeat you. I am here to save my friends, and keep the spark ignited."

"It ends now!" Darth Plagueis, the former master of Emperor Palpatine and the true identity of Supreme Leader Snoke, raised his hands and unleashed a torrent of lightning that would have been too powerful to deflect with a lightsaber.

Instead, Luke raised his human hand while his robot hand held his saber, and absorbed the dark energy in his palm.

Smiling slightly as he allowed the dark emotions within him to complement his inner peace, Luke redirected the crackling bolts back to their source.

"I don't think so."

As BB8 stealthily plugged himself into the _Supremacy'_ s system, he quickly worked to download the blueprint of the gargantuan Super Star Destroyer into his memory bank.

Without the fear programmed into his inhibitor, BB8 unplugged himself from the socket along the long shaft and sent a transmission to the computer of the _Millennium Falcon._

Chewbacca immediately accessed the blueprints, the holographic map of the massive vessel appearing above the controls.

"We got it," Poe said, analyzing the plans closely, "Snoke's throne room should be right up there. Chewie, you got the ion torpedoes ready?"

Chewbacca indicated the affirmative response.

"Let's hope this plan pays off then."

The three of them now stood shoulder to shoulder against the Supreme Leader; Rey, Ben Solo and Skywalker.

Snoke, also known as Plagueis, was now further enraged at the loss of all potential apprentices.

Facing the three warriors each wielding a blade of blue, red and green, Snoke let out a grunt of derision. "It matters not that there are three of you. I am immortal, and as you have seen, nothing can kill me. I can create and raze any life at will."

"Overconfidence has always been the weakness of the dark side," Luke said wearily, dipping his blade slightly, "Nothing has changed in all these years."

"Yes, the same old war between the Jedi and the Sith," Snoke replied, "Today, the Sith have finally won. Today..."

"Take cover!"

As Luke dove to the side sensing what was coming, Ben Solo took Rey in his arms on impulse and both of them ducked behind the throne as the roof above them was entirely blasted open by the _Millennium Falcon._

The entire throne room was now in flames, a crater in the floor where Snoke had been standing, running the entire vertical length of the _Supremacy._

Luke's X Wing appeared in the air above them, piloted solely by the whistling Artoo Deetoo.

At the same moment, the _Millennium Falcon_ hovered onto the scene, having fired at the same time as Artoo had fired the X Wing torpedoes that had been stored all those years.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Poe crowed from inside the _Falcon._

Rey immediately detached herself from Ben as Finn and Leia both stood up.

Finn was now running to Rey, who, her fear and anger replaced by elation, rushed to hug her friend.

"Rey, you don't know how scared I was for you. I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for you!"

"Oh Finn, I didn't know if you would ever be all right again, after you saved me!"

The man whom Finn and Rey had been in danger from on that particular ocassion shifted uncomfortably as the two held each other.

Leia was now fixated on her brother, who was likewise walking slowly towards her. Many conflicting emotions were exchanged between them in that brief span of time, emotions reflecting the times shared between them, the horrors, the gap between them after all too short a period of happiness.

Then, the shared loss of Hanstruck them both hard, and with still no words spoken, Luke and Leia embraced one another tightly.

Leia pressed her cheek against Luke's chest as he held her in his arms, his chin on her head. The tears flowed between both of them, so much to say, yet so few words to come.

At last the Skywalker twins released one another, and Leia took a step back and allowed a sad smile.

"I know what you're going to say. I changed my hair."

"It looks better that way," Luke responded in kind.

Then his sad humor was replaced by pure grief and remorse.

"Oh, Leia, you don't know how horribly I failed you. Everything that happened, it was my fault."

Ben stepped away out of earshot as his mother responded to his uncle.

"No, Luke, you didn't fail any more than Han and I did. In the end, Ben made his own choices and he fell under the influence of Snoke."

Leia smiled again, and Luke knew what she was thinking. To her, Ben's actions in the throne room had proven that he hadn't entirely been consumed by the dark side.

In the middle of the destroyed throne room, Chewbacca gently and carefully began to land the _Falcon_ as Artoo landed the X Wing right next to it.

Rey at last looked past Finn to the figure of Master Skywalker.

Mixed feelings ran through her; he had saved them all, yet he had still lied to her and caused a lifetime of mystery and unneeded waiting.

As Luke looked away from Leia, he made eye contact with Rey. Bitterness and regret were reflected in his eyes, and he steadily approached the former Youngling.

"Don't," Rey said bluntly, "I don't want to hear whatever it is."

"Rey, please..." Luke said, coming closer.

"She said she doesn't want to hear it!" Ben snapped, twitching the saber in his hand.

"You have no part in any of this!" Finn yelled at their former enemy.

"There's only one safe haven now,"'Leia said as Poe and Chewie came out of the _Falcon,_ and Artoo hovered out of the X Wing, "One man who can help us."

"Finn!" Poe ran over to hug his friend as Finn embraced him back.

"So we're all that's left," Finn said as he let go of Poe.

"I know where we can go, to rebuild the Resistance," Leia said. She exchanged a knowing look with her brother.

BB8 now appeared with them, flying in through the burning crater that had been blasted.

As the two droids reunited in their beeping language, Rey backed away from Luke and said, "I'm not going anywhere with him. I can't."

"Rey, you have to come," Finn pleaded, "The Resistance needs you."

"You're coming with us," Luke said more authoritatively.

"No, we can't force her," Leia said gravely, "She has to make her own choices." She was as sad as Finn, but she understood that Rey could not be made to follow. She had every reason to resent Luke.

"Please, Rey," Finn said quietly, willing all of time and space to disappear, to shut them both up in their own section of the universe, to exchange this one moment.

"I'm sorry, Finn," Rey replied, "I don't want you to give up another cause just for me. You belong with the Resistance, you are a hero to them while I'm just a for who got captured."

Finn knew she was right, and looked between her and the _Falcon._ He hugged her again and said, "Promise me I'll see you again soon."

Poe's turn was next, and he said, "Good luck, Rey."

Then Rey said goodbye to Chewie, Artoo and BB8, and finally, gave Leia a tight embrace.

"May the Force be with you," whispered the General.

"And you," Rey replied, nearly in tears now. She couldn't bring herself to look at Master Skywalker, who in turn looked toward his X Wing.

Ben Solo stayed a safe distance away from the proceedings, knowing full well there was no place for him there.

Instead, he stared at the flames as Leia, Finn, Poe, Chewie and BB8 entered the _Falcon_ and Luke and Artoo climbed into the cockpit and wing socket of the X Wing respectively.

Both ships departed from the hole that had been blasted through the _Supremacy._

Ben paced the floor for several minutes after everyone departed, not looking at Rey. There was still so much to say between them and yet...

"So what's next?" Rey asked awkwardly. If nobody else, Ben would have the answer to that question. "Snoke's dead, so is the First Order done now?"

"Snoke isn't dead. He may be blasted into atoms, but he still had a consciousness. He can't die, but he can't lead the First Order now either.I have a First Order to command now."

Rey had hoped that Ben would not go this way. This was her chance to sway him all the way, so that he could help her complete her training and answer the questions that now defined her

"You couldn't bring yourself to kill your mother or allow Snoke to kill me," Rey reasoned, "The light isn't gone from you. It's never gone from anyone. Why don't you come away with me, we can train together?"

Ben Solo looked away in sorrow as he replied.

"I can't, it's too late. I want... I want it all to end. The Jedi. The Sith. Skywalker. Plagueis. Let the past die. Kill it if you have to. It's the only way to become what you were meant to be."

Rey stared back at him, the already crimson room further illuminated by the flames. Ben's hand was extended to her, wanting her to join the dark side while she was trying to get him to join the light.

"What have the Jedi done for you?" Ben asked Rey as she gazed silently at him, her mind scrambling in a million directions.

"I... I can't join the dark side. Ben, I felt the good in you here, when you challenged Snoke."

"It's too late," he repeated sadly.

"That's right it is!" a voice called from the blown open entryway, "Both of you are condemned to die."

Hux was standing beyond the smoking durasteel, with a squadron of elite stormtroopers. Captain Phasma accompanied him as wel, her blaster aimed right at Rey.

Both Rey and Ben ignited their blades of red and blue, and Ben reached out to seize Hux by the throat.

Rey knew what was happening before it did as Hux did not choke but raised his own hand.

"Ben, look out!"

Ben immediately started grasping his throat and choking as Armitage Hux Force-strangled him.

Before Rey could move to help him, she was ambushed by a volley of blue and red blasterfire as the troopers entered the throne room, and forced to defend herself with her lightsaber.


End file.
